


welcome to hell

by horace_flippin_oconnor



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: ;), A lot - Freeform, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Angst and Fluff and Smut, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Bottom Eddie Kaspbrak, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, Eventual Smut, F/M, First Times, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Good Parents Maggie & Wentworth Tozier, Greta is nice, Like, M/M, Minor benverly, Minor stenbrough, Minor...hanwie, On Hiatus, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak, Top Richie Tozier, aesthetic losers club, and a lot of tiktok songs, because the toziers already love bev, cuz this is just me projecting myself onto the losers, everyone's a crazy stupid teen, greta is actually friends with the others, greta isn't a bully, have fun?, maggie and went adopt bev, not henry tho, ok so, the losers club is obsessed with looking aesthetic, theres a LOT of song mentioning, they're 16 and or 17
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:35:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22413328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horace_flippin_oconnor/pseuds/horace_flippin_oconnor
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak is moving to Derry, Maine with his mother in an attempt to ‘get to know your relatives better’, as his mom puts it. His life is still the same- just with more annoying relatives. His life is still boring and uneventful, until he meets Richie Tozier, who turns his tiny 5’5 life upside down.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak & Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon/Greta Bowie - Relationship
Comments: 19
Kudos: 62





	1. Beverly Marsh, Where The Fuck Is My Wallet? / We Love Each Other Very Much, Thank You

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaaaa sorry i know this isn't You Have 200+ Unread Messages (YH2UM) but i felt like doing this before i forgot the idea so yeah have mercy on me!! oh and. i might update every week. might.  
> oh also the chapter name is me being indecisive about what i should fucking name this chapter. just call it whatever you want. I like calling it bullshit tho

_Okay, wow._

_So this is actually happening? Really?_

It was a sunny morning, and Eddie was shoving bags into the boot of the car. He sighed and leaned his back against the fully-packed trunks.

He was moving.

He was moving to some shitty town in Maine, and his mom thought that _Derry_ was a nice place to go reside in.

_To get to know your relatives better,_ she said. _It’ll be fun,_ she said.

Eddie tried to convince her to stay in his childhood home, but there was no convincing Sonia Kaspbrak once she made her mind.

His mother decided to move to her hometown after Eddie’s dad died. She probably needed some more company, he thought.

“Eddie-bear! Come on, let’s go!” Sonia yelled as she locked the front door of his childhood home.

Eddie sighed and took a last look at all his surroundings. Ms. Kelling’s rosebush he had gotten his soccer ball stuck in to multiple times, his neighbour’s houses, and finally, his old home.

He stared sadly at his old home until his mom unceremoniously broke the moment of his farewell.

“Eddie! Let’s go!” she said, opening the backseat door for Eddie to go into.

And with that, they left.

*

Eddie woke up from the loud sounds of the radio.

He groaned and got his head up from the window.

It has been 3 hours, and Eddie looked out through the windows to see if there were any signs indicating they had made it to Derry. _This is such an uncomfortable place to stay in. For 3 hours._

Eddie had almost given up on searching for signs after a few minutes and was about to go back to sleep, until he had spotted a huge billboard.

_Welcome to the smoke-free, peaceful town of Derry._

_Ugh, finally._ He thought.

His attention went to two teens just under the ledges of the huge billboard, looking about the same age as him. He assumed they were dating. One of them was sitting on a huge rock, whilst the other teen was crouching on the ground. They were both smoking.

_Oh, that’s funny; I thought I read smoke-free._

His mom slowed down a bit and rolled down the windows just to show a look of disgust. Sonia hated smokers.

The red-haired girl sitting on the rock smirked at her and flipped her off.

The other one, a boy with a mop of dark-haired curls falling on his forehead, noticed Eddie, and he smiled at him and waved. Eddie waved back.

They both shouted _‘Welcome to Hell!’_ and Sonia, thoroughly disgusted, rolled up the windows and drove away.

_Huh,_ Eddie thought. _If they did that then this town probably really sucks._ Eddie sighed.

His mother was muttering things like _‘How disrespectful’, ‘disgraceful’, ‘how could they disrespect their own town like that’_ and _‘kids these days.’_ Eddie ignored her.

Eddie looked out the windows again and found nothing of interest.

He thought about the dark, curly-haired boy until they came to the new house.

“Eddie-bear! Eddie-bear, are you asleep? We’re here, Eddie!” his mom shouted too-loud.

“No, I’m awake, ma.” he said as he got out of the car drowsily, legs cramping from being in the car too long.

Eddie took a moment to regain himself from the tiredness and drowsiness and finally looked at the new house for the first time.

It was a green, normal two-story house with white accents. There were bushes trimmed neatly at the edges and a green yard with newly painted white fences separating the house from the neighbouring houses. There were red curtains that blocked the view from outside of the windows. It looked nice, but it gave Eddie an uneasy feeling. He didn’t know why.

Sonia threw a set of keys in Eddie’s direction and Eddie flinched at the sudden touch of cold metal against his skin. “Open the doors for me, Eddie! After you open them you can go help me get all this stuff inside.” His mother said, opening up the door to the boot of the car.

He obeyed his mother and grabbed the set of keys from the ground and started towards the white front door. When he finally unlocked the door, he took one quick look around to see what it looked like. There was the door to the living room, to the kitchen, a closed white door which he assumed to be a bedroom, a hallway and a set of stairs just parallel to the front door. He stopped looking when his mom shouted out his name again. “Eddie, grab these bags!” she yelled.

He stepped away from the front of the house and walked towards his mother. He started taking bags out of the trunk and into the house. This repeated until nothing was left in the trunk.

-

_Why now?_

After a week of enduring lipstick-stained and repeatedly-pinched cheeks whilst hanging out with relatives (or just literal clones of his mother), Eddie was going to school the following day.

_Since when had she even enrolled him?_ He thought as he walked out of the ice cream parlor with a vanilla ice cream in his hand.

He thought about the two teens at the _Welcome to Derry_ sign who shouted _welcome to hell!_ and he thought, _I guess they were right about Derry being hell. I’ve been here for a week and I hate it already._

Then he started thinking more about the dark, curly-haired boy with the red-haired girl.

Eddie was too focused on his thoughts that he ran into someone, his half-eaten ice cream on the floor.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Eddie said loudly, sighing and wiping ice cream off of his cheek from where it ran into.

“Oh- sorry, let me make it up to that,” the boy said, gesturing to the blob of half-melted ice cream on the floor whilst scratching the back of his neck.

Eddie finally looked up.

The boy looked familiar. He was wearing a thin-framed, round pair of glasses, a black t-shirt with a _KhaKi_ label on it, a red checkered pattern button up thrown on top of his shirt and ripped jeans. He was tall, _very_ tall, that the height difference between him and Eddie was easily seen. He also had dark, curly hair-

_Oh wait that’s him isn’t it_

“Uh, sure.” Eddie responded, still eyeing the boy.

_Ugh it really is him_

The boy looked at him with his eyebrow raised. He waved his hand in front of Eddie’s face, which took Eddie’s attention away from his hair.

“You okay? I might be hot, but jeez, you don’t need to stare that much.” he said with a teasing tone, smirking.

Eddie broke out from his gaze just to roll his eyes. “Hey, just get me my ice cream.” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his beige t-shirt tucked into jeans.

“Okay then.” the boy shrugged, stepping up to the ice cream parlor’s glass door, pushing open the door and gesturing inside.

_Wow okay so we’re doing this now_

Eddie stepped in, the boy just behind him. He lined up in the shortest line, Eddie following him.

When their turn came, the lady behind the counter asked “Hi, welcome to Freezed-In, what can I get you boys?”

“Uhm, one medium chocolate ice cream cone, and one…?” the boy looked over to Eddie, seeming to be asking what flavor he wanted.

“One medium vanilla.” Eddie replied, crossing his arms and looking to his right whilst doing so.

“One medium vanilla,” the boy repeated, looking back to the lady behind the counter.

“Okay, that’ll be 1.54, please.” she said, getting two cones and scooping out ice cream from the little containers.

The boy fished into his pockets, then muttering a not-so-soft _shit_ and groaned.

“Now I remember why I was walking out in the street. I was gonna go fetch my wallet from Be…”

Eddie couldn’t hear the rest.

The lady just laughed and placed her head on her hands, elbows on the counters. “That kind of attitude is not really nice for your date.”

_What? What date??_

“Y’know,” the lady said, twirling her hair. “There’s a special deal for couples. The First Date Summer Deal, where the ice cream is on the house. This your first date with each other?”

Eddie was about to protest when the boy pulled him close, his arm on Eddie’s waist, the other hand gesturing at him. “Yeah. I just asked him out, uh, yesterday.” The boy said awkwardly and coughed. “We love each other very much, thank you.”

Eddie flushed a shade of light pink and he furrowed his eyebrows. But he went with the act and smiled, hugging the boy by the sides, resting his arms by the boy’s waist. (Or probably his lower hip. This guy was _really_ tall.) “Yeah. What he said.”

The lady giggled and handed them their ice creams. “Well, enjoy your life together, then. You two make a good couple.” Eddie blushed.

The two of them smiled and waved at the same time, and walked out of the ice-cream parlor, still hand-in-hand.

“Have a nice day!” the lady smiled and waved.

They walked and walked until out of sight from the ice-cream parlor. When they did, Eddie let go and coughed.

“You didn’t bring your wallet?” he said with no real heat.

“Uhm, well, I was actually walking to my friend’s house to pick up my wallet, until I ran into you, and I forgot that I actually _didn’t_ have my wallet, so,” the boy explained whilst he shrugged.

Eddie sighed and shook his head.

“…Say, does this _friend_ of yours happen to be a red-haired girl who smokes?” Eddie felt the words coming out of his mouth before he processed it into his brain.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and asked, “Uh- yeah. Why?”

Eddie looked away and giggled. He looked back to the boy with his eyebrow raised. _“Welcome to hell?”_ he said, emphasizing every word.

The boy’s eyes widened before he started laughing. “Oh, so you were that cute guy in the car with the old woman?”

Eddie flushed slightly at the mention of the word _cute._

“Hey, that was my mom. But yeah. That was me.” Eddie replied, smiling slightly.

The boy grinned and shook his head. He then turned around abruptly, his head facing Eddie’s way still whilst a hand was in the air, meant to be a wave. “Well, I gotta get going now. Bev must’ve spent all my money by now. Bye.”

“Bye.” Eddie waved back and smiled.

Just as Eddie was about to walk back away, the boy turned around abruptly _again_ and said, “Oh, hey! I forgot to ask, what’s your name?”

Eddie stopped and turned his head around to the boy. “Eddie.” he smiled. “Eddie Kaspbrak.”

The boy grinned and adjusted his glasses. “Richie Tozier.”

Eddie started walking, his head still in the boy’s direction. “Okay. Well, bye, Richie.” he said, waving.

They both walked home (or in Richie’s case, walked to Bev’s); grinning like fools whilst thinking of each other.

-

Beverly jumped in her seat when she heard someone kick the front door open.

“ _BEVERLY MARSH WHERE THE FUCK IS MY WALLET”_

Beverly sighed and shook her head. She raced downstairs and pointed up to the stairs when she got down, glaring at Richie. “Up there. I was just thinking about spending all the money in it in buying a new choker online.” she said, smirking.

“Oh, you don’t hate me _that_ much, Marsh. In fact, you _love_ me.” Richie said, grinning.

Beverly rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, I do.”

Richie’s grin dropped off his face and he stuck his hand out expectantly. “Now, wallet.”

“I’ll hand it out to you in a minute. But first, hang out with me more. I still can’t stand to be alone. Tomorrow’s the first day of school, damnit.” she groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, I was thinking of staying for a while as well.” Richie said as they both climbed up the stairs.

When they made it to Bev’s room, she locked the door behind her, slid down against it and groaned.

_“Ughhhhhh”_

“Come on, Beverly, I feel the same, but _I’m_ _not_ currently groaning about it at every single hour of the day.” Richie sighed.

“But _Richie,”_ she moaned. “I _literally_ kissed Ben on the cheek at the last hour on the last day of school last semester. Do you _really_ think I can see him again?”

He groaned. “Bev, _you’re_ the expert on love advice here, not me. If _you_ need advice, I advise you ask Greta.”

“Yeah, but she’s _still_ in Hawaii. She’s not coming back until 3am tomorrow.” she put her head in her hands, still groaning.

“Well then, video call her when she gets back. She’ll probably post about her comeback on Facebook.”

“But she’ll probably be _asleep,”_

“Well, wake her then. Keep calling her on her phone. You already know well that she puts her phone beside her in bed. It’s like she’s _married_ to it already.”

Bev groaned even louder.

“Well, she gets grumpy when she just wakes up. And when she’s grumpy, she doesn’t think straight.”

“Yeah, but maybe that’s because she’s _not_ straight.”

Bev groaned _even_ louder which seemed impossible.

“ _Richie,_ you’re not helping.” she said, glaring at him.

“Well, here’s some advice. Just _go_ to school and _face_ him and _just tell him how you feel already!_ It’s that fucking simple!” Richie threw his hands up in the air.

Bev groaned even more.

Richie sighed. He helped her get up and they both plopped onto the bed, nervous looks on their faces.

Bev fiddled with them hem of her black crop-top.

“So, anything good happen today?” he asked, trying to ease down the mood.

“You came hang out with me.”

Richie sighed. Bev groaned. “Sorry, sorry, I’m being really depressing right now. So, how about you? Anything good happen to you today?” she said, turning on her side to face Richie.

Richie turned on his side as well. “I met a guy. Cute guy.” he said, smiling dopily.

Bev grinned along with him. “Oh yeah? Who?”

“He just moved in Derry last week. Remember that cute kid in the backseat of the car of that gross boomer?”

Bev’s mouth turned into an ‘o’. “ _Oh,_ ” she said, “ _That_ kid?”

Richie turned away, lying on his back. “Yeah. He was cute. I ran into him on the street and his ice cream fell. Said I had to buy him a new one. Forgot my wallet and we decided to pretend to be a couple to get the First Date Summer Deal.” Richie said, grinning stupidly.

Bev shook her head, grinning. “You gay bitch.”

Richie gasped falsely and got up, putting his hand on his chest dramatically. “Excuse _me!”_ he shrieked. Bev giggled. “I’m _bi,_ for your information. I’m a bisexual bitch.” he said, crossing his arms and tossing his nose high up in the air.

Bev smacked him on the shoulder and shook her head. “Sorry, I meant you _bisexual_ bitch.” She got up and slid on her boots. “Come on. Go with me to the store. I need more KitKat bars. Greta will lose her _shit_ when she finds out you ate all of them while she was in Hawaii.”

Richie got up as well, putting on his sneakers and running to Bev, sliding his arm around her elbow. “Okie dokie, m’queen.”

Bev rolled her eyes.

-

**beverage > jojo siwa hair**

**beverage :** yo when u coming back to derry gret???

**jojo siwa hair :** don’t fucking call me that you fucking beverage

**jojo siwa hair :** oh and I might come home around 3?? uggghhhh the flight will be long. I’m currently still packing up my things.

**beverage :** lmao what

**beverage :** you said you were packing _yesterday_

**jojo siwa hair :** yeah and I’m still packing.

**beverage :** that’s what happens when you pack a thousand outfits you gremlin

**jojo siwa hair :** well bitch you should’ve warned me

**jojo siwa hair :** you were literally there

**beverage :** I did and you said ‘you’re not the boss of me, mrs hanscom!’

**jojo siwa hair :** hmmmm

**jojo siwa hair :** fair.

-

The music of Fire Drill by Melanie Martinez played loudly on Eddie’s phone on top of the drawer by his bed. Eddie groaned. _“Fuck,”_ he said, trying to turn his alarm off while his face was muffled in his pillow, which was clearly a bad idea after he fell off the bed in the process, sounding with a loud _thump._

_“Ugh,”_ Eddie said, rubbing his head, and then listening for any noise outside of his room, scared that he actually woke his mother up. Content with the fact Sonia wasn’t awake yet, he glanced at a clock on his bedside table. It was 6:32am. He looked away, still rubbing his head, eyebrows furrowed.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” he muttered to himself, getting up and throwing his blanket that fell with him back onto the bed.

Eddie raced out to go to the bathroom doing his usual routine- brush his teeth, wash his face, etc. He then changed out of his usual sleepwear- a white sweater and white shorts- and changed into something more presentable. He changed into a pink sweater with the words _Moody_ on it, denim shorts, knee socks and pastel sneakers. His mom might think it _wasn’t_ presentable, but it was, now that they were in 2020. He picked up his phone charging on his bedside table, shoved it into his black _Cosé_ backpack, wore his backpack, then headed out quietly as to not wake up his sleeping mother. If he did, she might make him late with very long goodbyes and cheek-kisses and _be careful, Eddie’_ s.

His mom showed him where the school was a few days ago, so he didn’t have any trouble in navigating his way to ~~hell~~ Derry High School.

When Eddie made it to the gate of the school, he was quickly trapped in a flood of loud, chattering teenagers. He tried to squeeze his way out, since he was small, but was still trapped. He groaned (which couldn’t be heard anyway, since everyone was so loud.)

When he _finally_ managed to squeeze his way through, he decided to go to the Secretary’s office to pick up his schedule papers and his locker code.

When he picked up his papers, he looked back into the before-empty hallways that were now filled and crowded with teenagers. He sighed.

He had to squeeze through the crowd _again_ to get to his assigned locker, but instead, he ran into someone. Again. _That’s literally the second time this week._

“Hey, watch it- oh, hey, Eddie.”

He looked startled at the familiar voice and looked up. It was Richie, wearing a black leather jacket over a white sleeveless shirt that said _Do I Look Like I Give A Shit?_ in black and ripped jeans tucked into boots.

“O-oh. Hi, Richie.” Eddie said, wondering why the _fuck_ he fucking stuttered.

Richie smirked and pointed at Eddie. “That’s the second time this week, Spaghetti.”

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows. “Spaghetti?”

Richie shrugged. “It rhymes. Eddie Spaghetti.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, biting back a smile. “Don’t call me that.”

Richie’s smirk fell off his face, now staring down. “Uhm, nice outfit.” he said.

Eddie looked down at what he was wearing then looked back up. “You too.” he smiled.

Richie smiled back. The bell rang. “Oh, would’ya look at that. I gotta go to my geometry class now.” he scratched the back of his neck, grinning like a fool, waving with the other hand. “Bye.”

Eddie waved back, smiling. He watched Richie walk away, and once Richie was gone, he exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. He walked to his first class for the day, which was Math. Wow. What a great way to start the school year. With _Math._ Eddie groaned as he fished out his Maths notebook and textbook out from his locker.

His teacher for Maths was Mister Brookes, a grumpy sort of person, which suited Math. Eddie sat next to a chubby boy who seemed pretty decent, always asking Eddie if he needed anything, like _oh, do you need a pencil?_ Or _did you bring a ruler? No? I can lend you mine, then_ and _here, this symbol means.._. Eddie found out his name was Ben. They became quick friends. Ben seemed like the type to get along with people quickly. Ben asked if Eddie wanted to go with him to lunch. Eddie agreed.

After Math, Eddie’s next class was History, which was _also_ with Ben. Sadly, Ben didn’t sit next to him this time. He sat next to some redhead. Eddie shrugged it off. At least he got to meet Mike, his current seatmate. Mike was nice. He was funny.

Eddie hated History. _Why should we learn about things in the past? We’re basically just learning about dead people,_ he thought. Eddie glanced over to Ben. He was teaching the redhead about something, pointing at items in his textbook. The redhead leaned closer to try to listen and understand Ben’s explanations. Eddie figured she just wanted to lean in closer to Ben. The redhead looked familiar to him.

Eddie soon found himself dozing off, head in his arms and snoring lightly.

-

Richie sighed as Miss Warren explained more about prepositions and adverbs and _shit,_ as Richie described it. He looked over to Bill, who seemed to be jotting things down, when Richie knew he was just writing down poetic shit he made up in his head.

“Billy, this is _so_ boring,” he groaned dramatically. Bill sighed.

“I know, Richie, but w-we have t-to endure more of t-this hell for a few more hours. Keep strong,” he joked.

Richie sat straight in his seat. “Hey, did you know that Greta’s back?”

Bill sat up straight in his seat as well. “W-What? No one t-told me.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “We tried to tell you multiple times, but unfortunately, all you do is stare at Stanny boy over there.” Richie said, raising an eyebrow as he gestured to some curly boy in the front. Bill flushed.

“Beep beep, Richie.” he said, smacking the boy on his shoulder. Richie chuckled.

Everyone in the class was pretty much half-asleep or asleep, very bored from all the pronouns Miss Warren was exclaiming, so when the bell rang, everyone woke up from their drowsy state and got out of the classroom as fast as they could.

Richie picked up his notebook from his desk. He glanced over to Bill, who was looking at the curly-haired boy pick up his things to leave the room.

Richie shoved Bill’s shoulder, the auburn haired boy’s jacket slipping off his shoulders in the process. “Hey, Billy Boy! Stop staring at Stanny boy. It’s lunchtime, dickhead.” he said as he playfully punched Bill’s shoulder.

The curly-haired boy looked over to Bill and Richie at the mention of his name. He looked confused. Bill flushed and punched Richie on the shoulder. The boy looked away and walked out of the room.

“T-That was a fucking close one, Rich. I swear t-to God, if t-that happens again I w-will fucking stitch your t-trashmouth closed.” Bill said, shaking his head as they walked out of the room.

Richie laughed. He put his two arms behind his head as he did. “Hey, have you met the new kid?”

Bill raised an eyebrow. “W-Which new kid?”

Richie sighed as he adjusted his glasses. “5’5, fixed hair, extremely cute, pink _Moody_ sweater?” he said, even measuring how tall as he talked.

Bill thought for a moment. “Yeah, I t-think I had him in my Physics class. W-Why? W-Wanna fuck?” he joked.

Richie laughed along with the auburn haired boy. “Nope, well, maybe. He’s just really cute. His name is Eddie.”

Bill raised his eyebrows. “You sure you don’t like him?”

Richie knitted his eyebrows together as if he was thinking, opened his mouth as he was about to speak, paused, closed his mouth, and groaned. “I guess.”

Richie looked surprised when Bill let out a ‘ _whoop!’_ and held his hands out in the air. “Finally! I can finally t-tease you about someone. I’m t-tired of you t-teasing me about Stan. Beverly and Greta aren’t very happy w-with your ‘Benverly’ and your ‘Hanwie,’ either.” Bill said, punching Richie playfully in the shoulder.

Richie laughed as they halted at the door of the Geometry class. A red-headed girl ran out of it and immediately hugged Bill and Richie. “Hey, guys!” she said, pulling away from the hug.

“Hey, Bev,” they both said in unison, smiling as they waved at her.

“Hey, I was thinking about getting chicken fillet at _Jadeson’s_ for lunch today.” she said, tossing her arms around both of their necks. Bill and Richie threw their arms around Beverly as well.

“Hah, me too.” Richie said, feeling like something was missing. Oh, yeah. Greta.

“Me t-too. But Greta w-would probably kill us if she found out w-we w-went w-without her. She’s always been t-the one t-trying t-to convince us t-to go at Jadeson’s t-together at lunch time.” Bill said, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, yeah. We shouldn’t leave her out. She would be really disappointed if we did,” Beverly sighed, replacing the tiny frown on her face with a smile almost immediately. “But anyway! I heard they were serving _actual_ burgers with _actual_ meat in them today. Let’s head to the cafeteria.” she said, turning the group to the opposite direction of the exit, or to the direction of the cafeteria.

-

“That’s all you’re having?” Eddie asked, sitting at the table where Mike, Ben and another kid was sitting at. 

“Yeah. Why not? I like it.” Ben said, fiddling his food around with his fork.

The curly-haired kid whispered something in Ben’s ear. Ben smiled.

“Oh, I forgot to introduce you two,” Ben said, coughing. “Eddie, this is Stan. Stan, this is Eddie. He’s the new kid.” he said, gesturing one to the other.

Stan smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Eddie smiled back.

They chattered about little things, asking more about Eddie, like _what’s your family name, do you like it here,_ and _what’d you get for lunch?_ Until a group of three kids walked in and sat at the table just parallel to theirs. Eddie realized this group of kids was Richie, the redhead, and the stuttering kid in his Physics class.

Eddie noticed Mike looking at the group uneasily. “Hey,” Mike said, “Wait here. I need to ask something.” Mike got up and headed to the table of Richie’s group. Eddie saw him talking to the stuttering kid, looking like he was asking something. The stuttering kid replied and Mike nodded and headed back to their table.

Stan looked at him, eyebrows raised. “What did you do?” he asked.

“Was just looking for Greta.” Mike answered as he sat back in his place. Stan rolled his eyes.

“Who’s Greta?” Eddie asked curiously.

“Some rich blonde kid that hangs out with them all the time.” Ben said, gesturing to the other group. “A.K.A., the kid that Mike has a big, fat crush on.” Stan sat, emphasizing the word ‘big’. Mike flushed.

Eddie nodded. “As if _you_ guys don’t have a crush on one of them, either.” Mike said, smirking.

Stan flushed a shade of light pink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he said.

“Whatever you say, Denbrough.” Stan blushed a shade darker.

Ben rolled his eyes at them. He turned to Eddie. “So… Have you met anyone else other than us?” Ben asked.

Eddie answered almost immediately. “Uhm, yeah. I met this guy named Richie. Or that guy over there,” Eddie said, gesturing to the dark, curly-haired boy in the other table.

“That’s it?” Stan asked.

Eddie scratched the back of his neck. “Oh, I might have also asked that stuttering kid over there for a pencil in Physics.”

“Oh, that’s Bill Denbrough. He loves writing and drawing, but he surprisingly also loves doing sports as well, like football. His stutter isn’t that bad, though. He’s been learning to control it. It’s better than what was in middle school.” Stan explained.

“Mhm.” Mike sipped from his milk carton. “And you know this _how?”_ he smirked deviously. Stan kicked his leg under the table playfully.

“Wow.” Eddie said, smiling. “How long have you guys known each other?”

“We all met in fifth grade. But Mike was home-schooled when we met him. We managed to convince his grandpa to let him go to school in middle school.” Stan said, smiling as he cleared up the scrap on his tray.

They chattered some more and when they finished eating they left together, Eddie trailing behind them. He stopped for a moment to take a look at Richie and the others. He saw Richie press a sloppy kiss onto the forehead of the redhead. Eddie looked away, furrowing his eyebrows and not noticing he did.

Mike noticed it, though. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing.” he said, glancing back to where he was walking.

Richie and the others finished soon after, trailing just behind Eddie, Mike, Stan and Ben.

Richie walked up behind Eddie and tapped him on the shoulder, grinning. Eddie turned to him and Richie went to beside him. “Hey, Eds.”

Eddie winced at the nickname. “Eds? What’s that?”

“Your new nickname.” Richie grinned.

Everyone else drifted off to each other. Beverly chattered with Ben, Bill proceeded to walk next to Mike just so he could be next to Stan, and Mike asked Bill about Greta’s whereabouts. Soon everyone produced a sound of monotonous chatter.

“Well, I hate it.” Eddie said, crossing his arms, knitting his eyebrows and pouting. Richie confirmed this as something he could fall in love with.

“Oh, but you love it,” Richie smirked.

“So… uhm, is she your girlfriend?” Eddie asked, gesturing to Beverly.

Richie’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

Eddie coughed. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“No, I heard you the first time. I was just confused as to why you would ask something out of the blue like that.” Richie said, raising an eyebrow. “And no, Beverly is not my girlfriend. We’re just bestfriends. We’ve been together forever.”

“Oh, okay.” Eddie coughed. “Good,” he muttered on accident, hoping no one heard.

Unfortunately for Eddie, Richie heard. “What? Why’s that good?” Richie asked, raising his eyebrows and smirking. “Do you want me all to yourself? Don’t worry, I’m _all_ yours.” he said, gesturing to himself. Eddie rolled his eyes and shoved him lightly. “Shut up, Richie.” he said, smiling.

Bev saw the two and she grinned deviously. She whispered something in Bill’s ear and Bill also grinned.

“Fucking finally,” Bev said. “I’m tired of all his _Benverly_ and _Stenbrough_ and _Hanwie_ bullshit. We can finally tease him about something,” she whispered.

Bill stifled a laugh and thought. He then whispered into Bev’s ear, “What’s better? Edchie or Reddie?”

Bev thought for a moment until she whispered back.

“Reddie.”


	2. Oh My Fuck, Hanwie Is Canon! / Gay As Fuck? Gay As Fuck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two groups that now currently shifted into one chattered as they walked in the hallways. Bill and Bev’s eyes always shifted over to Eddie and Richie, where Richie was grinning and Eddie was either rolling his eyes or laughing at something Richie said. After they see this, Bill and Bev’s eyes dart to each other and they snicker deviously, whilst Ben and Mike just stand there, confused as to why they would giggle to each other for no reason. Stan felt like he knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter title is me being indecisive AGAIN  
> for some reason that I think you’d like to know,, from left to right, ben is next to bev, bev is next to bill, bill is next to mike, mike is next to stan, stan is next to eddie and richie. that’s it.

The two groups that now currently shifted into one chattered as they walked in the hallways. Bill and Bev’s eyes always shifted over to Eddie and Richie, where Richie was grinning and Eddie was either rolling his eyes or laughing at something Richie said. After they see this, Bill and Bev’s eyes dart to each other and they snicker deviously, whilst Ben and Mike just stand there, confused as to why they would giggle to each other for no reason. Stan felt like he knew.

“Yeah, Greta just came back t-today, but she’s probably ‘t-tired’ from t-the flight so she’s coming back t-to school t-tomorrow.” Bill said to Mike, eyes darting to Stan who was looking at him. He quickly looked away. Mike noticed this.

“Oh, thanks for telling me. Oh- and, uh, can you tell her I said hi?” Mike said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sure.” Mike then shifted between Stan and Eddie now, so that Stan could be next to Bill. _I’m tired of this bitch always staring at that Denbrough kid. He needs to go talk to him now._

Stan, who appeared to be able to read Mike’s thoughts, nudged him with his elbow. Mike grinned.

“Uh, so, hi.” Bill said, breaking the awkward silence between the two.

“Hi.”

Bill smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “You look nice.”

Stan smiled back. “Thanks. You too.”

“So, uhm.” Bill coughed out. “W-What’s your name?”

Bev and Richie gave each other a look that said _he literally already knows everything about him._ They both coughed and grinned.

Eddie looked up at him, a perplexed expression. “What’s up with all the coughing? Is one of you sick or something? I’ve got masks, if you need.” he said, lifting his pink sweater up slightly, revealing a red fanny pack underneath, the fanny pack wrapped around his waist. He unzipped it open and took out a face-mask, shaking it slightly to the group, a gesture which meant _anyone want one?_

Richie gaped. _What the fuck he wears a fanny pack that’s so adorable_

“You own a _fanny pack?”_ He said, smirking and gesturing to Eddie’s waist, where the fanny pack was.

“So _what_ if I own a fanny pack? For me, it’s mandatory to carry one. It has all the essentials I need.” he said, sounding angry, but without any real heat. He pouted, puffing up his cheeks and sticking out his bottom lip, which became a habit for him when he was annoyed. Richie loved the sight. “I have all the medical stuff I might need- Band-Aids, bandages, my inhaler, rubbing alcohol, facemasks-“

“Okay, okay, Eds! We get it.” Richie grinned. “Wait, why do you have an inhaler?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Because I have asthma, dumbass. Well, uh, actually- It’s hard to explain.”

Richie nodded slowly. “Uh-huh, okay.”

Suddenly, the bell ringed. The group heard loud, monotonous groans coming from the direction of the cafeteria. Then a flood on teenagers burst out from the double-doors that led to the cafeteria. The group, instead of shifting back to separate groups, stayed together and chattered.

Richie snickered. “Well, that’s our cue. What’s your next class, Spaghetti?” he said, leaning down slightly to look at the boy.

“Uh-“ Eddie pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He opened it up only to fold it back up again, looking back at the boy. Looking back _up_ at the boy. _He wasn’t short. Richie was just tall,_ he told himself.

“Biology,” he answered to Richie’s lingering question. Richie grinned as he pushed his glasses back up. “Biology? Me too. Hey, let’s sit next to each other. That’ll make Biology less boring for the both of us.”

Eddie coughed. “Uh- okay, sure.”

The group eventually needed to shift back to separate groups so that they could reach their lockers. Richie grinned as he walked off in the same direction as Stan (their lockers were next to each other), saluting to Eddie playfully. “See ya there, Eds!”

“Bye, Richie.” He smiled.

-

Richie slammed his locker shut and almost immediately ran to the biology classroom when Stan gripped on Richie’s arm (or rather, the hem of his black leather jacket) before he left. Though he wasn’t in the normal group of friends Richie was in, Richie considered him one of his best friends anyway.

“Hey, Richie, why’re you so excited? What got you so excited about Biology?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Usually, Richie would walk him to his class (or nag him all the way) and leave to go to his, even if he’s late. This time, he was excited just to leave Stan on his own. Not that Stan was complaining. He just thought something was up.

Richie just grinned. “Nothing, bye!” He said, instantly slipping out of Stan’s grip. Stan just stood there, perplexed, before he shrugged it off and walked to his History class.

-

Eddie was staring out of the windows of his Biology classroom before a tall boy barged in, instantly almost knocking over a girl who had multiple notebooks in her grip. She glared at him. He just grinned. “Sorry, mwah,” he said as he blew a kiss to her as she rolled her eyes.

He immediately sat to the empty seat next to Eddie. He raised his eyebrows, smiling. “You know her?” he asked. “Nope,” was all the answer he got, Richie popping the ‘p’. Eddie rolled his eyes.

A young woman whom they assumed to be their Biology teacher walked in. She made some introductions, like writing her name on the board, _Miss Williams_ , and asking a few students their names. She got to Richie.

“Richie Tozier’s the name, n’ doin’ voices is my game!” he said in the voice of a suspenders-wearing geek, as he wriggled his eyebrows and adjusted his glasses. Everyone in the class laughed, and surprisingly, Miss Williams did too. When she walked away, Richie grinned at Eddie. “I think I know my new favorite teacher.” Eddie agreed.

Though she was his ‘new favorite teacher’, he couldn’t focus on all the boring _biology bullshit,_ as he called it. After all, Biology has always been his least favorite subject. Second to Math, of course. He groaned quietly. Eddie looked over to him and rolled his eyes.

When it was _finally_ over, Richie jumped up instantly from his seat whilst shouting a _whoop_ as he grinned at Eddie who rolled his eyes for about the seventeenth time this day. Richie noticed this.

“Eds, that’s the seventeenth time you’ve rolled your eyes at me today. That’s a nice try to break Stan’s score at his average _eye-rolling at Richie’s stupidity_ daily.” He grinned.

“Well how many times _does_ Stan roll his eyes daily?” Eddie asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, probably 46,” he answered casually. “On days where I’m super annoying, 67.” Eddie gaped and looked at him as if he didn’t believe him, which he didn’t. Richie also noticed this.

“It’s true, believe me! Bev and Bill counted. They even bet on it.” he said, opening the door for Eddie as he curtseyed. Eddie rolled his eyes _again._ “Eighteen times.” Richie grinned.

They walked out on the hallway, a moment of comfortable silence draping over them, until Richie spoke up. “Uh, so, what’s your next class?”

Eddie thought for a while. “English.”

Richie smiled, though he was disappointed that he won’t be sharing his next class with Eddie. “Oh. I’m in Chemistry next. Well, uh, seeya later, then.” he said, grinning nervously. Eddie raised an eyebrow at this. “Uh, yeah. Seeya.” he said, smiling.

Richie smiled back at him and saluted, moonwalking to the opposite direction of Eddie as he did so, until he turned around and sprinted away into the obnoxious, loud flood of teenagers in the hallways.

-

A tall, dark-haired boy barged into the Chemistry classroom. Miss Walker, who was writing random shit on the board, swiftly and abruptly turned to whoever barged in. Everyone’s heads turned as well.

“You’re late, Mister . . . ?” The old lady said, seeming to be asking him a question.

“Hmm? Oh, me? Tozier.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Well, Mister Tosher, sit yourself down next to Miss Marsh over there. This kind of behaviour can’t be tolerated. Please refrain from being late again, please.” she said snobbily but politely, turning back to the chalkboard she was writing on.

Richie gladly sat himself next to Beverly, sighing in relief and melting in his seat.

Beverly looked over to him, raising an eyebrow. “What happened to you?” she asked whilst scribbling on a piece of paper.

Richie huffed.

“I went to our locker after Biology and after I got my Chemistry shit Stan still wasn’t there so I looked for him in this class because Chemistry is usually his fifth period class but he wasn’t here and I asked Bill where he was and he said he wasn’t in Chemistry today and I asked some bitch that came out of the class and she said he was in the nurse’s office and I panicked and I found out that he was fucking punched in the face by Henry motherfucking Bowers when he was walking here and his nose starting bleeding and shit and I was so angry I walked him to his next class which was Math-“ Richie rambled on and on angrily, his quiet voice eventually loudening due to how angry he was and eventually got loud enough that it turned heads in the classroom.

“-and Bowers was there so I beat the fuck out of him because of what he did to Stan and shit and-“ Richie’s loud trashmouth was immediately shushed by Beverly, whose eyes widened as the teacher herself swiped her head around to see who was disrupting her discussion.

When Miss Walker didn’t notice him, she turned back to the board and Beverly let out a relieved sigh.

“Okay, and?” she asked.

“I got chased here by Victor.” he huffed out. “Well, not like I’m scared of that small bitch, but I used all my energy on beating the fuck out of Bowers, so,” he scratched his neck.

Beverly looked confused for a second. “Wait, don’t you usually walk Stan to class?” she asked.

“Uh, well, I walked Eddie to class this time,” he said. Beverly raised her eyebrows at the mention of Eddie’s name, whilst realization dawned over Richie’s face.

“ _Shit_ , it’s _my_ fault, isn’t it?” he groaned as he put his head in his hands. Beverly patted his back.

“No, it isn’t. It just so happened when you decided to walk Eddie to class.” she said in a comforting voice.

Richie huffed and slouched into his seat, crossing his arms and pouting. Beverly chuckled.

“Don’t slouch, dude. You’re so tall and when you slouch it looks weird. Does it hurt?” she asked.

Richie shrugged. “Nah.”

Beverly huffed as well, slouching in her seat and crossing her arms as well as she chewed on a lollipop and it’s stick. She noticed Richie staring at her weirdly.

“What?” she said, looking over to him.

“ _You’re_ slouching right now, and since we’re kinda almost the same height, _you_ look weird!” he said, grinning as he tossed his arms into the air, gesturing at her.

Beverly laughed, earning a hard glare from Miss Walker, but she didn’t give a shit. Not at all.

-

The door of the classroom swung open, stealing Mister Brookes’ attention, as well as his other students. It was Stan, and a worried and angry looking Richie was the one who swung it open. Bill looked over as well.

“In you go, Stanny boy, just call me up if something like this happens again, ‘kay?” Richie said, loud enough for the entire class to hear.

Mister Brookes raised an eyebrow. “Mister Tozier, you aren’t part of this class in sixth period, so why are _you_ here?” he said snobbily.

Richie huffed. “Sorry, Brooky-boy, but I was just leading Stanley over here, now if you will excuse me,” he said on cue as a voice was heard outside of the room and from the hall. “Hey, _fag!”_ someone yelled from the hall. Richie swung the Math classroom door shut as Bill saw him run the opposite direction.

Stan sat next to Bill hesitantly, and that’s where Bill noticed the bandage on his nose.

“Uhm, hey,” he said awkwardly. “W-What’s. . . W-What happened?” he said, gesturing to the bandage.

Stan averted his gaze to the ground as he whispered quietly, “Bowers.”

Bill didn’t know how to answer to this, so instead he looked down and said “Oh.” He felt a pinch of growing anger as well. _~~Who dares damage this beautiful boy’s face Jesus Christ Bowers that son of a bitch~~_

__

“-enbrough!”

Bill looked up just in time to see all his classmates looking at him as Mister Brookes gave him a hard glare. Bill stood up. “Were you not listening? I asked you what the answer to this formula was. Could you not answer something that simple? How about two plus two? What’s the answer to that?” he said angrily.

Bill, who wasn’t paying much attention and thought that Mister Brookes was just giving him a lecture about discipline and bullshit, was given a gentle nudge by ~~the boy he’s been in love with for years~~ Stan, and he looked up immediately. “Uh- five!” he shouted. The entire class burst into laughter except for Stan, who looked at him worriedly, and Mister Brookes, who scowled. “ _Really,_ Mister Denbrough? Two plus two? _Five?”_ he said snobbily as Bill turned a shade of red.

“F-four! I meant four. Sorry, Mister Brookes.” he said as he looked down, still embarrassed. “I w-wasn’t listening.”

Mister Brookes’ scowl grew darker. “Well, you better be sorry. Detention tomorrow, after lunch.”

Bill scowled at this. He rolled his eyes and blew his hair out of his face before sitting back down. He glanced at Stan. Stan smiled at him. He smiled back.

_“-ome get me, Crissy!_ ” A familiar voice shouted in the halls. Everyone turned their heads to the windows. A tall figure was seen running through the halls, as a shorter figure that appeared to have blonde hair followed him. Bill sighed. _Don’t fucking tell me that was Richie being chased by Victor Criss._

A few minutes later, Bill felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out carefully and turned it on under his desk, crouching.

It was a text from Richie in their group chat.

-

**Hey There Demons TM**

**It’s me ya boy :** lol I just got chased down by vector crisp B)

**bitchverly :** what the fuck richie miss walker is literally eyeing the fuck out of you why did you fucking pull out your phone in the middle of chemistry

**Jojo Siwa :** sounds like a richie thing to do

**Jojo Siwa :** now shut the fuck up I’m still sleeping you fucks

_Seen by It’s me ya boy, bitchverly, Jojo Siwa and bi-bi-bill._

-

Bill shut down his phone and sighed as he shook his head. _Fucking knew it._

_-_

“Stanley, I know I’ve said this about a million times but I’m _so_ fucking sorry! I’m so sorry, I just-“

Stan put his hand over Richie’s mouth as he shook his head and sighed. They had both just gotten out of their sixth period classes. Richie was walking Stan to his Literature class.

“Stop fucking apologizing, Rich. You didn’t fucking do anything. It was my fault for not being able to run away from Bowers. So stop apologizing for something you never did.” Stanley said.

“But-“ Richie was shushed by Stanley once again with his finger on his lips. The shorter boy shook his head. He looked back up to Richie with a softer expression. “Just stop, Rich.”

Richie sighed. “Okay.” He said quietly as he walked Stan in comfortable silence.

Stan broke it.

“So. . . Where did you go, anyway?” Stan said, raising an eyebrow.

Richie scratched the back of his neck. “I went straight to our class.”

This confused Stan. He knew Richie would rather be late to class than arrive on time. “Why?”

Richie muttered a _sheesh_ under his breath. “Eddie was in it.”

A thought knocked at the back of Stan’s head. He pushed it aside until he was completely sure. “So?”

Richie looked away. “Are you _sure_ you aren’t angry?” He asked, eager to change the conversation.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Stan rolled his eyes. He threw his thought away in a metaphorical recycle bin, careful not to pry. His thought?

~~Oh. Oh. Richie is a gay piece of shit for Eddie, oh.~~

**> Delete**

**Thought successfully thrown down Stanley Uris’ metaphorical recycle bin.**

“-ley?”

Stan looked up, smiling goofily from the thoughts he had beforehand. Richie looked at him as if he was crazy.

“We’re here.” Richie said, raising an eyebrow.

“O-oh, oh yeah. Uhm- bye.” he waved Richie off, grinning.

Richie raised an eyebrow. _Something’s off with that gay curly trash._

He shrugged it off, walking to his Photography class he shares with Bill and Beverly, shoving himself through the crowd of students.

-

A tall, curly mess burst into the Photography class, slamming the door open, knocking down a bunch of books on a shelf next to the doorway. “Sorry, I’ll get that.” he said, picking up the books and shoving them back onto the shelf half-heartedly. The adviser gaped at him, flabbergasted. He saw this and grinned deviously at her until he noticed the familiarity on the teacher’s voice.

“Miss Williams? You teach Photography _too?_ ” he asked, now _him_ gaping. The adviser laughed at him.

“No, I’m not Miss Williams. I _am,_ however, Miss Williams’ twin sister, Mrs. May Williams Peter.” The class released choruses of ‘ _ooh_ s’. “That serves as my introduction for this class, now, excuse me, Mister...?” she said, gesturing at Richie, the tall, curly mess.

“Richie Tozier, ma’am.”

“Mister Tozier. Sit down between Mister Denbrough and Miss Marsh over there, please.” she smiled warmly. _At least she pronounced my surname right. The last teacher didn’t._

He (surprisingly) did as he was told and sat between Bill and Bev, waiting.

“Hey there, demons!” he said as he sat. Bill and Bev rolled their eyes in unison.

“Yo, Satan.” Bill said, blowing his hair out of his face as he rested his head on his hands, elbows resting on the table. Richie noticed his expression.

“You’re looking glum today. What’s up, Billy? Why so serious?” he said in his impression of the Joker.

Bill scowled. “I got detention t-tomorrow after lunch. T-That’s _one_ less class w-with Stanley.” he scowled. “Well, that’s okay, it’s just for one day.” Richie replied. “And I _also_ have to spend t-the w-whole fifth period w-with Henry Bowers and Victor Criss.” Richie pursed his lips at this.

He threw an arm around Bill, grinning. “Well, that’s okay! At least you have me and Bev there!” Bill raised an eyebrow. “W-Why?”

“Well, Beverly has detention because she flipped the teacher in Chemistry off, and I got detention for beating the shit out of Bowers. Oh! And I also pulled out my phone in the middle of Chemistry. And Greta will _probably_ be there, since she was absent on the first day of school just because she needed to ‘hibernate after a flight from Hawaii because instead of spending the last two days relaxing on a beach I had to fucking pack up a bunch of shit I bought at thrift stores because why the fuck not’.” he said, doing his best impression of Greta, also whilst quoting her words they heard from a group Video Call.

Bill smiled a little at this, but as Richie was talking, he realized he _also_ had one less class with Eddie. He frowned. Beverly noticed this. She ignored it.

“W-Well, I guess t-that makes it better.” Bill said, grinning.

Beverly and Richie looked at each other, grinned goofily, looked at Bill, grinned even more goofily along with Bill, and they giggled quietly, under the cover of the desks.

-

“Oh, Arts. Hey, Ben, what’s your next class?” Eddie said attentively, walking quickly along with the slightly taller boy.

“Oh, I have Arts as my next period as well!” Ben smiled. Eddie smiled back.

When they arrived to the classroom with a label above the doors that said ‘Arts I’, Eddie sat in the backrow. Unfortunately for him, Ben sat in the front. Eddie sighed. _Well I know this class is going to be borin-_

A tall, curly mess kicked the door straight open. _A tall curly mess? Well, what else can I describe Richie as?Hmm. Oh._

Record scratch, freeze frame. Rewind.

A tall, curly mess, but a super _hot_ mess, kicked the door straight open. “ _Hey there, demons! It’s me, ya boy!”_ he shouted. Eddie shook his head and sighed.

Miss Attenfield glared at him, bewildered. He smiled nervously as he slid to the chair next to Eddie.

Miss Attenfield shook her head as she grinned.

Eddie blinked at him. “Do you _always_ walk into your classes like this?” he asked, bewildered.

Richie grinned at him. “Yes.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, smiling.

The class started, though not as boring as Eddie thought. It was started off with simply drawing two things you liked about Derry High School. Eddie wasn’t much of an artist- and he _certainly_ didn’t really think about what he was going to draw, either. He drew things that were both easy to draw and seemed pleasing to the school staff. He drew Miss Attenfield on one side of the paper and the cafeteria on the other side. After he finished drawing, he held in up in front of him and squinted at it. _God, I’m so bad at this._ He glanced at Richie’s drawing.

_Woah._

_Yeah… that’s- that’s nice._

Richie appeared to be _great_ at drawing. He was still drawing on the first side- but it was _amazing._ Eddie leaned over to get a better look. It was a detailed drawing of five people, and Richie was still drawing the sixth person. Eddie realized it was Beverly, Bill, Richie, some girl with a high ponytail, Stanley, and-

_Me?_

“Woah.” Eddie muttered quietly, but obviously not quiet enough since Richie turned quickly to his direction, covering his drawing with his hands, obviously flustered.

“Uhm.” he said, coughing.

“Sorry.” Eddie said, slinking back to his chair.

They sat in silence for a while.

“Uh-“ Eddie said, breaking the silence. “You’re nice at drawing.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I, uh-“ Eddie said quietly. “Can I watch you draw?”

Richie hesitated for a moment, looking down as he pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. “Sure.”

Eddie scooted his chair a little closer to Richie’s so he could watch better from the new view. He rested his head against his shoulder, eyeing the paper. Richie gulped.

“Wow, that’s nice.” Eddie mumbled. Richie heard.

“They’re just doodles.” he said. Eddie squinted at his drawings. His _so_ very detailed drawings, with creases in all the right places, and shading-

“How the fuck do you call _this_ just a doodle? This is _amazing!_ This should be hung up in a museum or something!” he whisper-yelled. Richie turned pink.

“Uh- thanks.” he said, continuing his drawing of- _oh, fuck, Eddie._

He turned even pinker as he realized Eddie was watching him draw, well, Eddie.

“Uh- what are you drawing?”

Richie looked at him, perplexed. _Do you not see what I’m drawing?_

Eddie coughed and waved his hands. “Nonono, I mean- I don’t quite get it. I mean- what are you drawing, like, what things of Derry High School do you like?”

Richie got it and relaxed into his chair a little.

“Friends. The only things I like about school are my friends and the nice teachers.” he said, grinning.

Eddie blinked. He turned to face Richie. “You think of me as your friend?” he asked, eyes sparkling.

Richie turned to face him as well. He gulped. “Uh, yeah.” he smiled.

Eddie grinned at that, and he turned a little pink at the ears as well. _Wish I had social skills like this back in middle school._

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, until Eddie wrapped an arm around Richie to point at the girl with a high ponytail with a bow clipped on top of it. “Who’s that? I haven’t seen her around school before.”

_Ohmyfuck he’s practically hugging me right now isn’t he getting a LITTLE too comforta-_

“T-that-“ he coughed. _Am I seriously gonna go all Billy Boy right now?_

“That’s Gretta Bowie Keene.” he practically _coughed out._

Eddie pursed his lips as he thought. Richie loved the sight. “ _Oh._ I’ve heard of her around.”

Richie turned to him with a perplexed expression ~~and noticed their faces were literally just INCHES apart.~~ . “Really? Where? I don’t remember mentioning anything about her to you.”

Eddie smiled. “Michael Hanlon, or Mike, ever heard of him? He has a huge crush on her.”

Richie kept a straight face, though inside, he was _screaming_ with joy and practically doing a victory dance inside his head. _oH mY gOd HaNwIe Is FuCkInG cAnOn – Richard Tozier_

“Oh. Okay.” he said, smiling back, continuing his drawing of Eddie. A few minutes later, he finished his drawing, holding it up proudly for only him and Eddie to see. He inspects each and every single person he’s drawn.

_Bill Denbrough, with his sleeveless shirt that says NAH. with a leather jacket with the initials B.D. embroidered on it, with his ripped jeans and Converse sneakers. Beside him, Beverly Marsh, with her wild, red hair flowing wildly, her red tank top that curves on the shape of her chest, her leather jacket with the initials B.M. embroidered on it, with her denim shorts up to her hips, and with her knee high boots. Next to her, Gretta Bowie Keene, with exactly the same tank top as Beverly but its color is hot pink, with a leather jacket thrown on top of it as well, with the initials G.B.K. embroidered on it, a long, petticoated rainbow skirt with the fabric of a gown just above her knees, Jojo Siwa’s favorite holocaust boots, and blonde flowing hair held up in a ponytail, with a rainbow bow to clip it off. Richie Tozier, with his sleeveless shirt that says DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A SHIT? with a denim jacket thrown on top of it, with the initials R.T. embroidered on it, and with the ripped jeans tucked into his boots. Eddie Kaspbrak, with his pink sweater that says M O O D Y. in white, the sweater showcasing his collar, short denim shorts, a hidden fanny pack underneath, knee high socks with red and blue stripes at the top, and a pair of pastel blue Converse sneakers. Stanley Uris, with the sleeveless sweater thrown on top of his long-sleeved button up, ironed khaki slacks, and black shoes. Ben Hanscom, with his green hoodie thrown on top of a supposed-to-be hidden New Kids On The Block t-shirt, denim jeans and black Nike sneakers. And finally, Mike Hanlon, with his beanie, yellow hoodie thrown on top of his white polo shirt, blue acid-washed jeans, and red Adidas sneakers. The image of all of them together, happy, swims around in Richie’s mind. These are the people I want to spend my life with. Especially Edd-_

“-ie?”

Richie snapped out of _probably the best thought he’s ever had in a while,_ and turned at Eddie, surprised. "Sorry. I just kinda zoned out.” he said, smiling nervously.

Eddie smiled back. “I can see that.”

On cue, Miss Attenfield shouted out. “Time to pass your papers in five minutes!” Richie muttered a _fuck_ under his breath and he turned the piece of paper to the other side. He quickly drew Miss Williams, Mrs. Peter, Miss Attenfield, Mister Marcus from Geometry class, and Miss Wren from Literature class. But instead of the detailed drawings like before, he drew them all cartoony. Eddie eyed this, gaping.

“W-“ he choked. “You can draw realistically _and_ cartoony? What kind of fucking wizard are you?” he said, grinning. Richie smirked. “A hot wizard.” Eddie flushed a little at that. Richie noticed this and then and there almost _died._ ~~He also remembered about one of his favorite paid stories on Wattpad called Wizards Are So Gay and thought _I’m also a gay wizard._~~

__

Their five minutes were up, and Eddie had to pass both of their papers to the front. He quickly compared his drawing to Richie’s, his drawing scrawled and with a lot of erasures, and Richie’s, detailed and neat. He didn’t give a fuck, though.

When the bell rang, they both walked out of class hurriedly, running to their lockers (which were in the opposite directions), and promising each other to meet at the School Exit.

-

Eddie picked up his black Cosé backpack and realized his white Vivo phone was ringing inside. His ringtone, Cool by Jonas Brothers, was already on the line _It’s true, I’m a sucker for you,_ which meant it had been ringing 1 minute and 53 seconds straight. He glanced at the caller ID.

_Mommy_ 😑🤨😣🙄😒

He sighed and he swiped the red _Decline_ button. When he did, his notifications screen showed 41 missed calls from _Mommy_ 😑🤨😣🙄😒 _._ Alongside with _where are you my eddiebear?_ texts.

He clicked the notifications and texted her back.

-

**_Mommy_** **😑🤨😣🙄😒 :** where are you my eddiebear?

**Eddiebear <3 : **I’m at school, duh.

-

He sighed and shut down his phone and shoved it in his pocket. On second thought, though, he pulled his phone out, plugged in his earphones, and put on his _Melanie Martinez Songs_ playlist.

It started on the song _Recess – Melanie Martinez._

As he walked to the exit, he met an excited-looking Richie, a tired Bill, and a Beverly who rolled her eyes, grinning.

“Hey, want us to walk you home, Eds?” Richie asked, sliding over beside Eddie.

Eddie scowled. “Don’t call me that. And sure.”

Richie grinned and pulled Beverly and Bill beside him.

-

The walk consisted of Eddie and Richie bickering, and Richie annoying and disgusting everyone with his usual antics, until they came to a cross in the road. Eddie was telling them goodbyes, and when Richie realized that Eddie was the only one who needed to go to the opposite side, he immediately walked beside Eddie. Beverly and Bill blinked, Bev’s violet Hype backpack sliding off her shoulders, and Bill gripping his dark blue Nike backpack with both hands.

“W-What t-the fuck? Richie, you live over t-there.” Bill said, pointing to the direction they were heading.

Richie rolled his eyes and scoffed with no real heat. “I know, Billy, I’m not stupid. I was just thinking of walking Eds home.” Bev and Bill blinked at this again and grinned at each other, thinking only they knew what they were doing. Richie obviously knew what they were thinking, though.

“ _No,_ bitches. ‘Cuz, uh, why not?” he said, shrugging, and hiding his pink face. Eddie blinked, now being the one who was confused.

Bev and Bill rolled their eyes at this. “Whatever, Rich. Seeya later, then!” Beverly said, surprisingly with glee in her voice. They walked off, hands over each other’s shoulders with a bounce in their step. Fortunately for them, Richie had no idea why.

When Bev and Bill got farther enough from the two, they giggled and laughed and chuckled and guffawed and _whatever the fuck else,_ they just lay on the sidewalk, laughing hard and happily, causing people looking out of their windows, worried.

When they finished laughing, they both turned on their sides to face each other, still smiling.

“Gay as fuck?” Beverly asked.

“Gay as fuck.”

-

“Here, here it is. No, dickhead, that house! Ugh, no, the green house. Which one?! What do you mean _which one?!_ Fuck, _fine._ The puke-colored house. Happy?” Eddie and Richie bickered back and forth, which ended up in Eddie smacking Richie hard on the shoulders, and Richie laughed hard as well. This caused Sonia to look out her window. Eddie noticed this.

“Uh- I need to go now.” Eddie said, scratching the back of his neck, as he stepped a little to the right, indicating he needed to go.

“Okay. Wait!” Richie said, grabbing his wrist lightly. Eddie looked up to him. Richie had an uneasy expression.

“Uhm- can I- can I, uh,”

“Richie, spit it out.” Eddie said with no real heat, a soft expression on his face.

Richie softened and relaxed. “Can I have your number?”

Eddie blinked. He flushed a light shade of pink, the same shade of pink that was on Richie’s face now, under his freckles. “Yeah, sure.”

The two ~~gays~~ boys exchanged numbers, wished each other goodbyes, and Richie walked off back to his own home. Eddie sighed and opened the front door to see his mom waiting in the living room.

“Well?” she said.

Eddie mentally rolled his eyes and kissed her on the cheek, leaning over the couch. She nodded. He walked upstairs to his room, collapsed onto his bed, his backpack tugging at the collar of his sweater causing it to fall down his shoulder a bit, and he pulled out his phone. He stared at his new contact: **Richie <3.**

He sighed and undressed out of his clothes.

-

Richie wasn’t looking where he was going and he stumbled over two bodies on the sidewalk. He fell over, his lanky body scraping on the concrete, and his glasses fell off. When he sat himself straight and found his glasses, he saw two unmoving bodies on the sidewalk. He almost panicked and yelled _“WHAT THE FUCK THERE ARE TWO DEAD BODIES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK”_ until he saw a familiar mess of wild, red hair and a familiar long and shaggy mess of auburn hair.

He adjusted his glasses and kicked the two bodies not too harshly with his foot.

The bodies started awake, sitting up straight and adjusting their backpacks back onto their shoulders.

Richie was bewildered, flabbergasted, shocked and confused all at once.

He shouted and once again, people looked out of their windows, worried.

“ _BEVERLY, BILL, WHAT THE FUCK?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohmygod i know it's a late update but it's hard to write 5000 words per chapter okay  
> also i was originally gonna make the ending end with reddie fluff but then i was all like 'fuck that' and ended up making the ending beverly and bill being stupid fucks


	3. What Are You Doing Here, Jojo Siwa? / Try Hard To Keep Your Virginity, Eds!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohmygod guys i'm SO sorry for being a week late!! i was SUPER busy and i CRAVED to write this but i was so busy doing a bunch of book reports for English and then I've got this assignment in Literature AND i signed up for doing some friend group book project i APPARENTLY need to pass in March oops! i'm SOOOOOO SO sorry! aalso i'm changing update schedule to once every two weeks because every week i switch from writing YH2UM to welcome to hell and if you're waiting for this to update,, you,, uh,, might as well read YH2UM? (you have 200+ unread messages) aaaaaa self-promotion i know i suck but. i did it to keep y'all entertained while i'm being a busy bitch over here. it's basically the same as WTH but. it's just. kind of. different? kind of. ok. i'll lead you on to read this

Richie woke up at 3am to a loud knock on his door. He grumbled, getting up and throwing the blanket that was half-on him off completely. He opened the door to see a familiar blonde mess.

“Well, hello there, Jojo Siwa. What brings you here to my home? Needed a new manager?” he smirked, wiping off the sweat on his forehead.

Greta looked at him, then his chest, and then she pushed him back in. “Put a shirt on, bitch.”

Richie stumbled backward, the smirk staying. He always slept shirtless and with some basketball shorts he stole from Bill. His friends don’t seem to mind. _Well, except Greta._

_“I’m don’t allow myself to see other rock-hard chests until I see Mike’s”_

_Well, at least that’s what I think she said._

Richie shut the door, until he opened it back again to be seen wearing a band tee than said _The Chains,_ with five chains attached to one chain in the middle. This is The Loser’s Club’s favorite band.

Greta snorted. “Better,” she said before shoving him back in, causing him to stumble over again and fall on his ass on the floor, and she went in like she owned the place.

Richie blinked as he got up. “Greta, what the fuck?”

Greta started messing through his things, opening his closets, looking under his bed, and looking in his drawers.

Richie furrowed his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Greta turned to look at him. “Heard you got yourself a man, boyo.” she said as she chewed on a toothpick. “You smooth as fuck, thought you might’ve smashed him last night? Where’d ya hide him?”

“Don’t speak like that, it sounds weird.” He said, running a hand through his hair. “Also, I’m not _that_ smooth, I think. I just like him, maybe even _like-like._ Though I met him just a week ago. He’s really cute.” He rambled. He stopped when he caught Greta looking at him weirdly.

He blinked, confused. “What?”

She put her hands on her hips as she spat out her toothpick on Richie’s messy floor. “Ya sound already super gay for this boy. Ya say you’ve known him for a week?”

Richie took his glasses from his bedside table and put them on, blinking as he did. “Yeah?”

Greta nodded, frowning. She opened the drawer right beside her, pulled out a box of strawberry-flavored toothpicks (that Richie kept only for Greta’s sake), took one out and chewed on it. “Yeah. You’re super gay for him already.”

Richie groaned as he pointed to his bedroom door. “Get out.” he grumbled.

Greta rolled her eyes. “Oh, and, who told you this?” he asked before she got up.

She looked at him. “Backread the GC.” she said, pointing to his phone that, as if on cue, rang and vibrated a few times. He groaned.

“Yeah, yeah! Get out. It’s like 4AM. Why are _you_ already ready? Thought you might’ve wanted to sleep in.”

She was wearing a holocaust dress that went just above her knees, with the usual _G.B.K._ leather jacket thrown on top of it, her curly blonde and black hair pulled up in a high ponytail with a holocaust bow clipped right on it.

She scoffed with no real heat. “Need to be prepared for a fellow gay’s gay crisis.” she said before she shut the door behind her.

Richie shook his head as he threw his shirt off. He wondered how she even got into his house. He tossed his shirt onto someplace on the floor. He liked being shirtless whenever he could. _It feels nicer._

He jumped back onto his bed, chest-first. He soon dozed off.

-

A certain redhead kicked Richie’s bedroom door right open. Richie, who awoke from the sound, got up and groaned.

“That’s the second bitch running in through my door today. Jeez, am I _that_ smooth?” he joked as he rubbed his eyes.

Beverly opened his closet, grabbed a handful of clothes and threw it right at him. “Here, wear this.” she said, as Richie was hit by multiple fabrics. “ _You’re_ walking me to school today.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “Duh! Was there a time I didn’t?”

Beverly kicked him just below his knee with her black boots gently. “Hurry up.”

Richie sighed as Beverly went out of his bedroom, hearing a faint _Morning, Beverly. Want some pancakes?_ And a faint reply of _No thanks, Maggie._

Richie hurriedly got dressed into the usuals- ripped jeans tucked into black boots, a leather jacket with the initials of _R.T._ thrown on top of a sleeveless shirt that said _FUCK RIGHT OFF,_ and his chain necklace with a lock in the middle wrangled around his neck. He then grabbed his black Adidas backpack, threw his black Oppo into it, threw it on his back and headed out, grabbing a few pancakes before doing so.

Beverly threw her arm around his neck, slipping her other hand into Richie’s pocket before taking out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, taking one, offering one to Richie, and slipping it back in his pocket.

-

Someone punched him in the face _hard_ in the locker rooms. Eddie heard laughter erupt from one group of boys. His nose was bleeding. He was on the floor, in a corner, wiping the blood from his nose as he curled up. He was crying.

“That’s what fags like you fucking _deserve!”_ the boy shouted, before he held his hand back up and-

_I never fit into any category_

_Always deemed an outcast_

_Since I was in Sunday school_

_And all the cool kids said I was weir—_

Eddie woke up, faint tears in his eyes from his dream, and turned off his alarm sound of _Fire Drill_ by Melanie Martinez. He sighed and shook his head as he got up.

He did his usual routine—this time, he wore a baggy grey hoodie and black ripped jeans with blue denim Converse.

He got ready and left.

-

The two girls, surprised and excited upon seeing each other, gave each other looks, and did a foot-five. _Whatever that is._ They clashed both of their boots together, gave each other fist bumps, and reached into each other’s pockets to take out gifts they were gonna give each other—in Greta’s pockets, a pack of mint Marlboros for Bev, in Bev’s pockets, a pack of mint-flavored toothpicks. They exchanged grins. They complimented each other on what they were wearing, as well, even though Beverly’s ripped shorts, black tank-top and _B.M._ leather jacket outfit wasn’t exactly Greta’s type. Not that Greta’s Jojo Siwa Birthday Blowout outfit was any better in Bev’s eyes.

Richie and Bill stared at them, bewildered. _Was this some secret handshake we didn’t know about?_

Right then, a familiar doe-eyed, soft brown haired boy walked in, about to turn to the left pathway of the hallway until a complete jackass blocked his way.

“Hey, Eds!”

He froze, and turned around, a strand of his soft hair that curled up slightly bobbed as he did so. He feigned a groan.

“Good morning, Rich.”

Richie grinned. He then rambled and annoyed Eddie with random stuff, walking with him (totally not because he was determined to find out where his locker resided) until Eddie came to a halt next to a very familiar locker with a faded poster of The Chains band on it, a sloppy _thank u next bitch_ written in black on top of it, and a bunch of grease everywhere. _Beverly’s locker._

Eddie opened his locker, shoving his backpack inside gently as he took out a Maths textbook. Richie frowned.

“Ouch. Math in the morning? That sucks.” he said, feeling slightly sorry for the boy.

“I know, right?” Eddie said as Richie leaned against Beverly’s very greasy locker.

“Gross.” Eddie muttered. “Are you seriously leaning against that locker?”

Richie just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “…Yes?”

Eddie scowled. “Don’t you see how much grease is on that thing? Don’t you know how much germs could be on that thing?”

Richie raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You afraid of germs or something?”

“Yes, well, wait, _no!_ I just hate germs. It’s- it’s just fucking gross, okay!”

Richie grinned deviously as he wiped his finger on some of the grease on Beverly’s locker and waved it at Eddie. Before Eddie knew what Richie was doing, Richie wiped some of the grease on his finger on Eddie’s cheek. Eddie yelped and wiped it off quickly with wet wipes he pulled out of his black fanny pack before trying to beat the shit out of Richie. Keyword: _trying._

Richie laughed as the smaller boy smacked him on his shoulder multiple times. “Dude, _gross!_ That is _so_ not funny, so stop fucking laughing! Why in the fuck did you do that, dickwad! That’s fucking disgusting! That locker is fucking gross, I can’t believe you did tha-“

“Wow, thanks.” Beverly said sarcastically, pushing past the two to get to her locker. She shook her head.

Eddie scowled at him and closed his locker shut. Richie grinned.

They soon finished off their bickering when the bell rang. Eddie headed to his Maths class with Ben, Beverly headed to her Arts I class, Bill headed to his Geometry class, and Richie went to the lockers to walk Stan and himself to their History class.

-

“Stan, what happened to your, uh, your nose?” Eddie said, gesturing to the bandage located on his nose.

They were in their third period classes, which was Physics, which Eddie shared with Stan and Bill.

Stan looked down.

“I, uh… I don’t think you’re ready to know about that yet. I don’t want you to spend your hallway days in fear.”

As Bill listened (he was sitting between them), he looked down solemnly as he knew the answer himself.

“Oh. Okay.” Eddie nodded, though he probably knew this was some _very_ scary hallway bully.

-

_Fuck yeah, Lunchtime!_

Richie _just_ found out that if you slept through all of your morning classes, it’ll pass the time better and, _voilà, it’s Lunchtime!_

Richie, Bill, and Greta had just walked out of their English class, and they were now in front of the Geometry class waiting for a certain redhead. Only five seconds had passed, and when the classroom doors burst open, the first person to jump out was the _one and only_ Beverly MarshTM.

“Hey guys!” she said loudly as she jumped in the middle, flinging her arms around them. They all smiled at her gesture.

“So,” Beverly began. “Since Greta’s back, let’s all go to Jadeson’s for lunch!”

Greta blinked. “Uh, well, you see,” she said, awkwardly bumping both of her index fingers together. “I thought of starting my first day of school with, uh- geezhowdoisaythis- Can we eat together with the others? I mean, Mike, Ben, and Stan?” she asked, smiling nervously.

They all blinked. “Of course we can!” Beverly says, wrapping her arm around her. “Like, duh!”

Greta smiled. “Alrighty then.”

Richie coughed and raised an eyebrow. The others turned to his direction.

“Mike, Ben, Stan, _and_ Eddie.” he said.

Greta furrowed her eyebrows. “Who-“ Before she could finish, Beverly whispered in her ear.

“The guy we were talking about in the GC.” she whispered. Greta lit up.

“ _Oh_ … Him.” she grinned.

Richie knitted his eyebrows together, confused as to what they were talking about.

Greta pulled Richie and Beverly pulled Bill to the direction of the cafeteria.

-

“Hi! Can we sit here?” Greta said, setting her tray between Stan and Mike whilst they were having a conversation. This annoyed Stan, but they all agreed anyways. “Yeah, sure!” Mike said as he smiled a toothy smile, the same smile that Greta fell in love with.

“Oh, okay! Thanks!” she said, before she got up. “Uhm… Can you guys wait a little? I need to get something.”

She headed over to the front of the cafeteria, where Bill and Richie were still in line. Beverly had just gotten her tray and was automatically sitting next to Ben Hanscom, who turned a bit pink when he realized it was Beverly next to him.

Greta rolled her eyes. When Richie got his tray, she led him to the spot next to a soft brown-haired boy she didn’t know; indicating it was this ‘Eddie’ her friends were so hyped about. Richie sat and furrowed his eyebrows at her, knowing something was up, but he just couldn’t place what.

Greta then headed over to Bill whose tray was still being set up by the grumpy lunch-lady; tofu hamburgers and milk, the gross but usual combination of the school cafeteria. Greta was glad she packed her own lunch; a green smoothie, with an excellently roasted steak and mashed potatoes, packed in her pink Jojo and Bowbow lunchbox. _Rich bitch._

She slid a $30 dollar bill in Bill’s pocket. He turned to her, bewildered. “Greta, _what._ ”

She pointed to the spot next to Stan, smirking.

Bill groaned. He would do it as long as it involved money. It’s not that he’s money-driven or anything, he just needs enough money to save up to fix his little brother’s broken arm that broke a month ago, whilst he bumped his head over a construction sign whilst riding a bike in the rain, fell over, stuck his arm in a sewer drain whilst his bike and things in his bike basket fell on him as he was getting up, and he got broke his arm whilst doing so. Not that Greta was going to let him save up all on his own; she was planning to give him $10,000 for the surgery when she got back anyway. She also loves his little brother, Georgie, _way_ too much to be just a bystander.

Bill would _also_ do it as long as it involved Stan.

When they both sat down, noisiness concurs. The normal, loud chatter the group gave out was two times louder this time, now Greta was around.

While Richie and Eddie were bickering _once again,_ and when Beverly was in a deep conversation with Ben, Stan, and Bill, she made a slight _oh_ sound as she grinned, as if she remembered something.

“Oh, jeez, _guys,_ I _just_ remembered!” she began. “There’s this _super_ cool house party tonight, held in, uh,” she scratched her head. “Oh! Sean’s house! There’s gonna be drinks-“

“I’m in!” Greta shouted. Mike saw Greta was going and said “Same.”

“-and weed-“

“I’m _totally_ in.” Richie said loudly. Eddie looked surprised at this.

“-and music is _totally_ gonna be blaring out from the house, and it’s gonna be like the latest popular ones too, oh, and don’t forget, Sean’s sister, Katie, who’s a big fan of The Chains, is gonna be one of the DJs-“

“Oh, count me _in_.” Bill said excitedly.

“-and a bunch of other people are gonna be there! Like, most of the cool kids. Or prolly like the whole _grade_ are going! Whaddya say, Stan? Eddie? _Ben?_ ” she said, looking back and forth the three.

“I’ll think about it.” Stan said. Beverly frowned and Stan noticed this. “But the answer will most likely be yes.” he said to cheer her up a little. She returned her excited smile back to her face. She looked at Ben.

“Uhm… sure. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a house party.” he said nervously. Beverly literally _hugged_ him at that point. After leaving Ben a blushing mess, she glanced at Eddie. “How about you?”

Eddie glanced at the group who was looking at him expectantly. He was a bit nervous. “Uhm- I’d totally go, but the thing is, I’m a new kid, and I don’t exactly know where _Sean’s house_ is. And what time is it at?”

“8PM.”

“Until?”

“Well, normally, it’s until everyone passes out on the floor and the music stops, but since tonight is a school night, it’s sadly gonna end at 3am or so.”

“Till the Morning.” Greta joked and Beverly grinned whilst she started dancing ‘Till The Morning’ by Chris Brown and Dej Loaf in her seat, with Greta singing terribly on purpose. “If you wanna take me home, put me in a be-“

Eddie shook his head and cut her off. “My mom would totally kill me if I was gone for that long.”

Richie thought for a while. “Why don’t you sneak out?”

Eddie pursed his lips, as if thinking about it. “Yeah, I could, but I don’t know where _Sean’s_ is.”

Greta had the chance and she took it. “Oh, Richie could take you. Sneak in your room and take ya there in his car.”

“ _You_ own a _car_?” Eddie asked, looking at Richie bewilderedly.

Richie grinned smugly. “Yes, sirry!”

Eddie shook his head, grinning. “Nah, sorry, I don’t trust Richie to take me in that thing.”

“So, it’s decided then,” Beverly said, ignoring Eddie’s remark. “Me, Ben, Richie, Bill, Mike and Greta are going, Stan’s still undecided, and Richie’s going to pick up Eddie.” she said, grinning.

“Actually,” Stan interrupted, “I’ve decided. I’m going.”

The group did a small _whoop_.

The group chattered a bit more until the bell rang. They chattered a bit as they walked in the hallways until they had to break up to get to their lockers. They went in pairs since their lockers were next to each other or either close to each other’s lockers, Eddie with Beverly, Richie with Stan, Mike with Bill, and Greta with Ben.

-

Richie and Eddie raced out of their Arts I class, Eddie promising that he’ll go walk with Richie and the others after he got his stuff. Determined to get ready early for the upcoming party, he grabbed his Cosé backpack immediately, swiping decline on his Vivo, knowing full well it was his mom calling. The voice of Nick Jonas immediately faded off, and he raced off, the black strap of his backpack falling off of his shoulder. When he made it out to the sidewalk, he could’ve sworn he saw four very tough looking kids looming over him, glaring at him, one with a mullet snarling at him, but he just raced off farther onto the left sidewalk until he reached the group of three.

He panted, hands on his knees, his black backpack strap off his shoulder, as drops of sweat drooped down his face, his hair messed up, with a very red face, and his hand reaching into his black fanny pack to get his inhaler.

_Oh, fuck. That’s hot. I’d totally fuck that guy._

**> Richie Tozier’s Brain**

**> Documents**

**> Thoughts of Eddie Kaspbrak**

**> ‘Oh, fuck. That’s hot. I’d totally fuck that guy’.jpg**

**> Are you Sure You Want To Delete?**

**> Permanently or Down The Recycle Bin?**

**> Throw it The Fuck Down The Recycle Bin**

**> Successfully Thrown Down Richie Tozier’s Metaphorical Recycle Bin.**

“What happened to you?” Richie asked.

Eddie threw his backpack strap back up his shoulder as he blew into his inhaler.

“Oh, tough crowd is all.” he replied.

Richie looked at him, concerned, and he drifted off next to Eddie, as if he was expecting him to fall over at any minute.

Bill and Beverly noticed this and they both jotted it down into their mind.

**> Bill Denbrough and Beverly Marsh’s Shared Mind**

**> Documents**

**> Thoughts of Richie Tozier**

**> oof richie is gay as fuck for eddiek.txt**

**> Open**

**> riCHIE IS A FUCKING GAY BITCH AND HE’S SO FUCKING SWEET WITH THIS GUY OML. WHAT. GET YOU A MAN LIKE THIS.**

When Eddie finished and shoved his inhaler back into his fanny pack, he asked “Where’s Greta?”

“W-walking is for poor people.” Bill grinned; pointing to a limo from afar that was parked outside the school gates.

Eddie watched as a familiar blonde jumped into the limo, nodding soon after.

“Wow… Rich bitch.”

Bill, Bev and Richie broke out to laughter at this remark.

-

“Thanks, Rich.” he smiled.

Richie smiled back. “See ya later, if you know what I mean.”

Eddie, playing dumb since _his mother was literally listening from the window and was totally NOT supposed to know about the party,_ said, “What do you mean?”

Richie grinned smugly. “I thought you might see me coming in your house when I’m fucking your mom tonight.”

Eddie scowled, feigning disgust. “Gross, you dick! Get the fuck off my property!” he joked.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Spaghetti.” He grinned, saluting, before heading off.

Eddie just shook his head at him, still smiling.

When he got in, he automatically pecked on his mother’s cheek.

“Eddie-bear, who’s that boy you’re with?” she said, feigning a warm and loving tone.

“Just a friend, ma,” he half-lied. “Oh, and ma, _please_ don’t come into my room this evening. Not even to peek in. I want to rest,” he said in that sickly-sweet tone of his that always convinces his mom.

“Okay, my Eddie. But if you need anything, just—“

Eddie went up to his room.

-

Eddie had _no_ idea what he’d do at a party, since he’s never been to one. Of course, he’s been to kiddie birthday parties, but not an actual house party, where a bunch of teenagers make out, have one night stands, drink, smoke, and dance to music blaring out of their ears. He’s never been allowed to for obvious reasons.

_Well, now that I think about it, most kids aren’t allowed to go to parties like that. I guess I’ve just never been invited or never had the balls to sneak out and go._

He had no idea. He looked down at his black G-Shock. _8:09PM._

_Should he bring something? Does he need to dress a certain way, or-_

A knock on his window.

Eddie yelped but successfully covered his mouth before he let out the sound out, careful not to wake his mom. He was scared and worried, who-

A familiar face popped up onto the glass, squishing it’s face against it. Richie.

He smiled against the glass, waving his hand frantically, almost falling over in the process. Eddie was shocked. His room was on the second floor.

He unlocked his window to let Richie in, and Richie clumsily stumbled as he got in.

“Richie, one, _what the fuck?_ Two, _how’d you know which room I was in?”_

Richie shrugged. “Took a shot.”

Eddie shook his head. “What if you knocked on my mom’s window?”

Richie grinned. “Not that it’d make any difference. Me and your mom made some plans for tonight, and the R rated plans, if you know what I mean.” Richie winked and Eddie feigned a look of disgust.

“Disgusting! And three, my room is on the _fucking second floor._ What if you fucking _fell_ or something?”

Richie shrugged once more, looking around his room. It was painted light green, a white windowsill just at the edge of a blue-themed bed. There were boxes in one corner of the room, soon to be unpacked. There was a desk and a lamp, with a bunch of papers on it. Richie eyed those papers. “So what? I’m used to climbing through windows on the second floor ever since I was eight.”

“But what if you got hurt?”

Richie blinked and turned to him. “Are you- are you _worried_ or something?” he smirked.

Eddie crossed his arms. “Of course I’m worried, jackass. Who else wouldn’t be worried if some guy you met a few days ago that you already consider as your bestfriend climbed through your window at 8PM when your room is on the second floor?”

Richie’s smirk grew to a soft grin. “You already consider me your bestfriend?”

Eddie looked down and shrugged. “Yeah, I’m seeming to like you and the others a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve had friends.”

Richie frowned at this. “…You don’t have much friends?”

Eddie’s eyes stayed to the floor. “Never really did, unless you count people who borrow pencils and erasers from you ‘friends’.” he joked, eager to change the conversation. Richie wasn’t yet.

He stepped on an invisible rock, doing a dramatic gesture. “Well, I’ll make sure to be the _best_ friend my Eds has _ever_ had.” he said, wiping an invisible tear from his eye. Eddie giggled, keeping his volume low.

“You ready to go?” Richie said eagerly, gesturing to Eddie’s window.

“Yeah- wait. Do you want _me_ to climb _out_ of my window at night time, at the second floor?” Eddie said, flabbergasted.

Richie smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll go first. You can go next.”

Eddie blinked, furrowing his eyebrows. “Nope. No way. Who knows, what if I break a fucking _arm_ or-“

Richie put his hand on his shoulder, looking at him with a reassuring smile, a smile that also said _Dangerous._ “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” he said, before he jumped down Eddie’s window, sounding with a soft _thud._ When Eddie looked down his window, he saw Richie holding his hands out expectantly. Eddie took a deep breath before he climbed over the windowsill and-

_Thump_

_“Bingo!”_

“Woah, chill dude, you can open your eyes now.” he heard a familiar voice say. When he opened his eyes, he was in the warm arms of the one and only Richie Tozier, being carried bridal-style.

He blinked a few times before he flushed bright pink and quietly said “Put me down, Richie.”

Richie did as he was told and he pointed to a car a few blocks away. “I parked it far out so that your mom won’t think it as suspicious.”

Eddie scoffed. “My mom would be asleep by now.”

Richie had the chance and took it, grinning. “Yeah, she might be tired from all that doggy-style-“

Never mind, Eddie didn’t let him take it. This earned him a hard smack on the shoulder. “You’re so fucking gross!” Richie laughed.

When they got up to his car, which for Eddie was _surprisingly_ clean and not broken-down or anything, Richie opened the front passenger seat for Eddie, curtseying dramatically in the process. Eddie rolled his eyes as he got in the car and put on his seatbelt, Richie following.

Richie got in the driver’s seat, connecting his black Oppo phone to the car speakers via Bluetooth before putting the keys in. Eddie stared at him, waiting for him to put on his seatbelt. When Richie didn’t and was already gonna drive off with _Yummy_ by Justin Bieber playing on, Eddie stopped him.

“Hey,” Eddie said, eyebrows knitted together. “Aren’t you gonna put that on?”

Richie blinked. “Put what on?” he asked. Eddie pointed to the seatbelt by the driver’s seat. Richie made a slight _oh_ sound before putting it on. “Whoops,” he said mid-click of the seatbelt. “Don’t normally do this. Sorry.”

Eddie frowned. “You should. It keeps you safe.”

Richie nodded at that, but inside, he fucking _grinned._ That’s the second time Eddie worried about him today.

When _Yummy_ hit on the line _fifty-fifty, love the way you split it_ Eddie asked, “Who’s Sean?”

Richie adjusted his glasses, eyes on the road. “Sean Hudson. Ring a bell?”

Eddie shook his head. Richie pursed his lips. “That green beanie-obsessed guy, with a long nose and orange hair? Y’know, that kid who always smells like pot? Seen him in the hallways?”

Eddie thought for a while, before replying. “Yeah, I think I got that guy in my 7th period Chemistry class.”

Richie nodded. “Yep, that’s the guy. He’s the one who hosts most of the house parties in Derry High. He’s a good guy.”

Eddie nodded. He then asked, “Hey, what’s that ‘Till The Morning thing Greta and Beverly were talking about earlier?”

Richie slowed down until he stopped, then pulled his phone off of the cupholders between the two seats, putting on _Till The Morning_ by Chris Brown and Dej Loaf. 1 minute and 5 seconds in, the lines _Party, party, party, (Party!) Pass me a coco-_ started up. Eddie listened, confused. He looked at Richie for an explanation.

Richie grinned. “Have you ever heard of TikTok?” Eddie nodded. “Well, those bitches are obsessed with it. Hell, they pulled me and Bill into it, too. But we’re not as obsessed as them.” As Richie said this, he knew that if Bev or Greta was here, they’d start singing and dancing Obsessed by Mariah Carey.

Eddie giggled, fucking _giggled._

**The List Of The Top Ten Most Cutest Sounds In The Entire Universe by Richie Tozier**

**1.) Eddie giggling**

Richie coughed, face clearly pink, and turned to the road and drove off. ‘Till The Morning came off, then Hate Me by Nico Collins.

When they arrived there, Richie parked behind a green van with the number plate **FCKU6969.** Richie grinned. “That’s Beverly’s, uhm, car.”

Eddie grinned with him, getting out as he did. They walked a little on the sidewalk before they actually made it to the violet house. It was a bit bigger than most of the houses, with a big frontyard and an even more bigger and visible backyard. A bunch of red paper cups sat on the porch and some on the lawn, indicating the party’s already started. Eddie felt a little nervous— _wait, why the fuck?_ It’s a fucking house party, for Christ’s sake. Eddie glanced at Richie; he had his hands in his pockets casually with a look that indicated he went to many of these. Before they had even stepped on the porch, though, the front door burst open and an angry and embarrassed Stanley was strangling a laughing Mike, and they hit against the porch rails. Whilst the two were wrestling, a perplexed and flushed Bill came out of the front door after them. Bill saw Richie and Eddie and gave a nervous smile, shrugging. “Hi Eddie, Hey, Rich.”

They both smiled back at him. “Hi, Bill,” they said in unison, in a warm tone.

Richie then watched the two as Mike who obviously lost his _shit_ laughing, was trying to pry the shorter boy’s hands off his neck as they wrangled Mike, careful enough not to _actually_ strangle Mike. “What the fuck happened to those two?”

Bill shrugged, a shade of pink on his face clearly stating that he _did_ know. “Something about _Stenbrough.”_ Bill said Stenbrough through clenched teeth, plastering on a fake grin for Richie that made him think _Uh oh._

“So,” Richie said, eager to lighten up Bill’s mood. “Where’s Bev and the others?”

Bill inhaled. “Greta is teaching Ben how to use TikTok on the couch, God help us, and Beverly is sitting by the kitchen side, eyeing a bottle of Smirnoff, refusing to get drunk without you. Make yourself at home. Sean’s words. Oh, and if you want a snag of weed or whatever, go see Sean in his room watchin’ porn on Cinemax with Derek Wesley. _Also_ Sean’s words.” 

Eddie looked inside through the doorway and shivered. _Oh, great. Time to socialize._

Richie grinned at Bill. “Thanks, Billy. I’mma head in.” he said, gesturing to the door before dashing in, holding Eddie’s wrist, of course.

Richie looked around in the incredibly large crowd of teenagers, some making out, some smoking weed in a corner. He turned to Eddie and said, “Hey, would you rather make TikTok videos with Greta and Ben, get drunk with me and Bev, or go hang out with some other kids?”

Eddie thought about it. He had never gotten drunk or made a TikTok video.

He pursed his lips.

He decided against getting drunk, since he’d never done it and, he didn’t know the effects of alcohol, and it was also a school night.

“I’ll just go with Greta and Ben. I’ve never drunken before.” he said.

Richie shrugged. “Suit yourself. Try to keep your virginity tonight, Eds! Teens are wild!” he said, making Eddie flush a shade of red as he flipped him off.

“But, Richie! Aren’t _you_ driving?” he asked a bit nervously.

Richie smiled at him. “Don’t worry; I’ll drink only a little. I’m mostly gonna be there to support Bev whilst she’s vomiting out all she’ll drink tonight.” he said, making Eddie grimace, and he chuckled and walked off into the sea of drunk and dancing teens.

When Richie had gone, Eddie looked around for an obvious Jojo Siwa stan or a kid who was a little chubby. _I think I heard Bill saying something about them on a couch._ Finally, Eddie saw them, Greta making kissy faces at the camera on her iPhone 11 (what the fuck, rich bitch) and Ben, looking confused as hell. Eddie sat beside Greta. “Hey,” Eddie smiled. Greta and Ben smiled back. “Richie sent me here. Told me to ask you to teach me how to ‘TikTok’.”

Greta smiled a sinister and devious grin, whilst Ben put his head in his hands, shaking his head and groaning, even though he was still smiling. “I’m the perfect person for that.”

-

After what Eddie thought was the 42nd video Greta made with the sounds _The Weekend_ by SZA and Calvin Harris, he said he was going to find Richie and Beverly, and left the two, leaving poor Ben all on his own to dance _The Weekend_ as it was on the line _I’mma keep him satisfied_.

He pushed through the crowd; finally reaching to what he thought was the kitchen. When he went in, though,

“ _Hi_! There. Guy. Rhianne, who’s this guy?”

Richie shook his head. “Goddamn it, Bev, my name’s Richie.” He said, as he patted her on the back.

“Oh! Yeah. Rickie. Okay, Rickie. Who’s this guy?”

Richie sighed. “Eddie.”

Beverly grinned dopily. “Oh. Hi! There. Ellie.”

Eddie looked back and forth from the two. “What happened to her?”

“You mean what happened to _us._ She just forced me to drink eight glasses, and now I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

Eddie blinked. “Okay.”

Eddie sat on the side next to Richie in comfortable silence for a while, refusing in his head to do another dance of _Relationships_ by Young Thug and Future, so he sat there. Richie stared at him admiringly for a while, before saying, “You’re cute.”

 _The alcohol must have got to him,_ Eddie thought, coughing and turning away to hide his pinkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i lost my ship in the sea of ships  
> and i'm SO fucking sorry i made greta a jojo siwa stan i omf  
> i know that Megan Charpentier doesn't look anYTHING like jojo but still.  
> shush.


	4. Throwback... Wednesday??/ Crazy 'Lil Fucker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie eyed the four bottles of Smirnoff next to Beverly. He winced. “How’d she manage to drink that much in one hour?”
> 
> Richie glanced at her. He snickered. “She’s a crazy lil’ fucker.”
> 
> Eddie nodded, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so like. sorry for the late update like i've finished this chapter like a week ago and i haven't been able to post it since 1. i was grounded for 2 days 2. i was one of the contestants in some national spelling thing in baguio city (in luzon, and i'm like in mindanao Philippines). i dont know how i made it there since i cant even spell thigs correctly on here. fyi i was 3rd place! not so bad for like 20 other people. but yeah  
> EDIT: things** oh my god thats how you know i cant spell anything at all  
> EDIT#2: so like,, most of the stuff here is updated because i originally wrote this like super badly and please forgive me there's not much spelling or grammar mistakes but there's real life mistakes where, for ex., i just left a coke bottle floating in the air, so s o r r y!!! the parts updated are the part where maggie's in richie's room, where beverly's shoving a bunch of pancakes in her mouth, where bill and stan are teasing eddie, AND where greta, mike and richie are talking about the d'amelios!! please backread to read them!!!

Richie stared at him admiringly for a while, tracing the little details that made up his face, eyeing how small his waist is and thinking how easily he could grab it, counting all the little brown freckles draped across his face and thinking how they look like stars and trying to find constellations in them, gazing at his soft, brown hair, his soft, brown eyes, his soft, kissable pink lips, _oh my fucking god,_ before blurting out “You’re cute.”

 _The alcohol must have got to him,_ Eddie thought, coughing and turning away to hide his pinkness.

Eddie shook his head and pointed accusingly at Beverly. “You. You made him drunk! How am I supposed to get home?”

Beverly turned her head to her side like a dog.

“IDK, Ellie, _walk?”_

Richie looked at him. “Hey! I’m not _that_ drunk.”

“Yet, you called me cute.”

“What? It’s true.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “It’s not.”

“It is.”

“It’s _not.”_

_“It is.”_

“It fucking isn-“

Beverly shoved Richie, the force causing Eddie to get shoved as well. “Fuckin’ _jeez,_ I might be drunk, but not that drunk to know that you two dumb fucks are always fuckin’ _flirtin’_.”

Richie laughed nervously. “ _Haha,_ she’s just drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” before not-so-subtly elbowing Beverly.

Eddie eyed the four bottles of Smirnoff next to Beverly. He winced. “How’d she manage to drink _that_ much in one hour?”

Richie glanced at her. He snickered. “She’s a crazy lil’ fucker.”

Eddie nodded, grinning.

They sat in comfortable silence, being broken for a little while when Beverly burst out “I like watermelons.”

They sat in more silence for a while, before Richie’s phone started blaring.

**19 Messages from: Stanus The Manus**

**Latest: _oh my FuCkinF GOD PLEASE KILL MIKE_**

**Message from: Big Bill TM**

**_i fucking wonder where mike got the word ‘stenbrough’ from_ **

**Message from: MikenIke**

**_who is a stenbrough and where can I get one? hHAAHhah actually please help meUusfaJGSFKUGjh_ **

Richie winced and put his phone on silent.

“What was that about?” Eddie asked.

Richie shrugged. “Dunno, cutie.”

Eddie feigned a frown. “Stop.”

“Never, now that I know you don’t like being called cute.”

Eddie groaned.

-

Three hours later (finally reaching midnight), Greta and Ben made their 224th TikTok video being _I’m Moving Too Fast X Cookie Shop_ , Stan finally stopped strangling Mike and settled down on the porch watching the stars with Bill, Mike sat down to join Greta and Ben, and Beverly _finally_ threw up after her 7th bottle.

Eddie, never _ever_ before knowing anyone who vomited due to drinking too much alcohol, panicked. “Oh my God, _Richie!_ What if she dies from alcohol poisoning?!”

Richie shook his head and grinned as he patted Beverly on the back. “Calm down, Eds, she won’t. She’s had more than this; the most she’s ever had was about twelve bottles. As I said, she’s a crazy lil’ fucker and she won’t die _that_ easily.”

Eddie calmed down a little, his worried expression still glued onto his face.

Beverly’s very-audible retching could be heard even through the music of _Macarena_ blaring through the loudspeakers.

Eddie handed Beverly a bottle of hand sanitizer he took out from his fanny pack after she took her hands off the toilet seat. She took the bottle of hand sanitizer from him with trembling hands, before wiping off a bit of vomit drooping down to her chin and saying “It doesn’t fucking taste like watermelon. Anymore.”

Richie shook his head.

-

“Aight, make sure she doesn’t take the wheel and crash it into a tree or somethin’ crazy like that. ‘Kay? Benny.”

Ben frantically nodded in the driver’s seat of Beverly’s green van, obviously ignoring the McDonald’s takeout trash in the backseats and in the floor space behind the front seats.

“I want watermelon.” Said a half-awake Beverly with the front passenger seatbelt lazily thrown across her.

Richie nodded back—as if approving—before slapping the van and getting his head back up from leaning down to the car window. Ben honked before driving off.

Richie sighed, glancing back to Sean’s house, seeing a few couple of people who passed out draped across the living room floor through the open front door. Bill and Stan are no longer there; walking out in the streets together, and Greta and Mike had just left in Greta’s little red Chevrolet that she owns and only uses for the sake of late-night parties like these.

Richie glanced at his Rolex. 3:21 AM.

He then turned to Eddie and smiled faintly. “Let’s go.”

Eddie smiled back. “God, yes _please.”_

They both climbed into Richie’s Rover and Richie started it up. Eddie drifted asleep in the front passenger’s seat, through the soft music of _Don’t Let Me Down_ by The Chainsmokers and Daya.

-

He woke up to Richie gently shaking him awake. “Yo, we’re here, Eds. Get up.”

Eddie opened his eyes, still in a dream-like state. He glanced at his G-Shock. 3:31.

He climbed out of the car lazily; his hoodie a bit messed up. Even though he knew his mom wouldn’t easily wake up, he still cautiously and quietly walked on the grass. As he walked onto the front porch, he remembered that _oh, fuck. I’m not supposed to go through here._

He ran as quietly as he could to where he supposed his room window was and groaned softly, facepalming.

Richie catched up in a while, staring up. He pointed to the tree that was close to it. Eddie frowned and raised an eyebrow.

Richie shrugged. “It’s how I got up.”

Eddie’s eyes widened a little and he shook his head. “No, no, and _no_.”

Richie pursed his lips.

“Why not just climb through the living room window? That way, if you wake your mom up, you could just say you woke up for a glass of water.”

Eddie thought about it for a while, before nodding and grinning. “First smart thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “Come on, shortstack. Get in there.”

Eddie walked as quietly as he could to one of the living room windows that were by the couch and _prayed_ in his mind that the windows were unlocked. His prayers were answered.

Richie followed him quietly, making sure—no, just watching him going in.

Eddie, on the ledges, glanced at Richie for a quick moment, smirking and waving to him before sliding in the window, sliding it quietly shut, and closing the red curtains. Richie heard a faint _tap-tapping_ of his short-person legs.

He smiled to himself before running quickly to his car and driving off.

-

He awoke with a pillow to the face.

“Ow! Dude, what the fuck-“

“Don’t ‘what the fuck’ me, Tozier! You got a girl to walk to school!” Beverly half-shouted, excitement visible on her face. She looked fine for a person who got stoned and stayed up until 3AM last night.

Richie got up with a start, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He saw the excitement on her face and immediately asked, “What’s got you so horny?”

Bev rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you later, just, get the fuck ready!” she said before prancing out of the room.

Richie sighed and took a heap of clothes he assumed Beverly threw at him, for him.

Someone burst into his room again, and Richie assumed it was Beverly, but when he looked up, he saw his mom, the only adult who's cool with kids calling her by her first name because she's awesome like that, Maggie, with her hands on her hips.

“Richie, where were you last night?”

“Bill’s. I got home at three though, ‘cause I fell asleep and I woke up for a trip to the bathroom and realized the time.” Richie answered quickly, already have making the excuse last night, in case his mom asked.

Maggie seemed satisfied and nodded, then eying the leather jacket in his arms.

“Richie, it's Wednesday.” she pointed out.

Richie blinked at her. "So?" He then noticed her looking at the leather jacket he didn't even realize he was holding. " _Oh._ Thanks." He then got up to hang up the leather jacket in his closet instead of throwing it on the floor like he usually did, since, Maggie was watching.

Maggie knew about his friends, of course. She knew about their black-leather-jacket-uniform. She knew they didn't wear leather jackets on Wednesdays or Fridays. She knew they called themselves The Losers Club and she didn’t mind one bit, but she did question them about it one day when they were all over for a weekend. They just simply answered: “It’s just the way it clicks. We're Losers.”

Richie nodded, knowing his mom was right, and he threw the leather jacket into the laundry bin in the corner. His mom got out, giving him privacy to change, and he picked out a black Adidas V-neck sweatshirt and _once again,_ some black ripped jeans that hugged his figure. He took off his chain-and-lock necklace that was _killing_ him and instead put on a lighter, silver necklace with a cross in the middle. He slipped on some black Converse (all black today? Really?) And picked up his backpack. He crossed by the open door of the bathroom and he peeked in to get a look of himself in the mirror. He saw that his hair was messier than usual, and he tried to fix it a little but ended up making it look worse (in his eyes), so instead he just shrugged it off and raced downstairs.

He met his mom watching a few pancakes sizzling on a pan, his dad reading a newspaper (typical), and Beverly smurfing up three pancakes in a little plastic container, pouring a lot of maple syrup over it, putting on the lid to the container and shoving it into her purple Hype, all while there was another pancake shoved in her mouth.

Richie rolled his eyes. He turned to his mom. “Why do you even let her in here?”

Maggie grinned. “Deal with it. She’s kind of like your sister now.”

"But I _have_ a sister." He said whilst pointing over at a family picture hanging up. It was of Maggie, his dad, Richie, and Richie's sister whose two years younger, Rhianne, smiling like idiots. He was mainly pointing at Rhianne, who was still in an all-girls boarding school until the summer.

"Your _other_ sister."

“Well, yeah. But why do you let her kick my door down?”

Maggie shrugged, turning back to her pancakes. “It’s what a sister would do.”

Richie huffed, but wished his mom and dad goodbye before heading out with a very jumpy and excited Bev. Richie raised an eyebrow when they were walking out on the streets. “So?”

Beverly threw a wide grin at him before coughing and inhaling sharply that it alarmed Richie a little. She looked at him. “Me and Ben are, _kinda,_ dating now.”

Richie choked on his spit, and this time, it was Beverly’s turn to be alarmed. When Richie calmed down a bit, he looked straight into Bev. “What.” It wasn’t even a question.

Beverly shrugged, a bounce in her step as she stepped on tufts of grass that grew in a crack of the sidewalk. She smiled softly to herself, pushing back a wild curl behind her ear dramatically like they do in the movies. “Well, half-way through the drive, I got a bit sober but not sober enough ‘cause I ended up apologizing for the time I kissed him on the cheek and I explained why. Meaning, I confessed my shit feelings for that baby, and he _fucking_ returned them, and we may or may not have kissed each other. Softly. Many times. In the front seats of the car. In my driveway.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky your rich-ass aunt got you your own little house. If not, she would’ve freaked out if she saw you and Ben making out.”

Beverly hit him hard on the side of his shoulder. “We weren’t ‘making out’. We were just kissing softly.”

Richie snorted. “Yeah, okay.”

-

_-ould you give your mom a hug before your house burned away?_

Eddie woke up with a start. _Oh, Goddamnit._

He turned off the alarm on his phone and got up to do his usual morning routine. When he looked in the mirror, his hair was slightly tousled. He played around with it a bit, deciding that he won’t fix it with a comb and gel today, and satisfied with the current look, he then went back into the bedroom to change into a salmon pink sweatshirt and— _oh shit, no denim?_ his short, red shorts. He held them up in the air for him to examine a bit and to think— _am I really gonna wear this? Fuck it—_ and finally change into them. He put on some red-blue striped socks that went _just_ below his knees and red Converse shoes. He picked up his Cosé and threw his phone that was charging a while ago into it. He raced downstairs as quietly as he could—glancing around and smiling when he looked at the same living room window he climbed into yesterday night. His mind wandered back to the party and he thought; _I should go to parties more often._

-

“Where’d you and Stanny boy go last night, Big Bill?”

Bill elbowed Richie, hitting his elbow right against his hip, making him make a not-so-subtle _OOF._

Richie held his hip, making a hurt face for show. Bill rolled his eyes.

“Nowhere. I just w-walked him home, dipshit!”

Richie nodded and grinned. “Aight. Hey, did Bev tell y’all she’s _kinda_ datin’ Ben now?”

Bill choked on his spit, very much like Richie’s reaction when he found out. Greta, however, choked on a milktea pearl and almost dropped her cup of chocolate milktea, which isn’t such a nice breakfast choice, but no one gave a shit.

“She _what.”_ Greta said, wiping off some of the milktea drooping down to her chin, similar Beverly last night.

“Are you deaf? He said I’m finally dating Benny.”

Beverly had now joined them from her trip to her locker. She was smiling. The Losers Club noticed that she was glowing—like, almost _literally_ glowing, with her wild, red curls bobbing as she walked towards them, with one tuft of curls clipped to the side neatly with a hairclip (the same tuft of hair Bev pushed behind her ear earlier) one of the curls long enough to slightly brush against her shoulder, her plain red t-shirt tucked into green, khaki-belted ironed shorts complementing her hair color, her key necklace bobbing along with her curls. Even in the loud, every-day chatter of the Derry High students, the _click-clacking_ of her heeled-boots could be heard faintly. She noticed how they went quiet.

“What?” she asked.

“Beverly’s throwin’ it back, ain’t she?” Greta said matter-of-factly, taking in her outfit. Greta remembered that these were the type of outfits Beverly used to wear when they were nine until they were fourteen. She smiled.

Beverly turned a shade of pink. “Hey, whaddya mean ‘throwin’ it back’? I still wear these types of thangs.”

Greta snickered. “Right.”

“Hey, Bev, one of your curls reached up t-to your shoulders.”

Beverly frowned. She turned to her side and tried to feel through her hair for any curls that grew beyond her desired hair length. When she found the curl, she gave it a look that she usually gave people who insulted her friends. Her friends noticed this.

“Hey, w-what’s up? W-why don’t you like it like t-that?” Bill asked, frowning.

“Hm?” Beverly looked up from the curl to her friends.

“I mean, your dad’s gone, Bev. You don’t need to keep doing this anymore.” Richie said, in a voice that was faintly sad and small. It was known among their friend group that, Beverly hadn’t really liked her father due to… things he would do to her. When Beverly realized that he liked her hair long, she cut it short. She’s been doing that continuously only to annoy her father, even after he died.

Greta frowned at the mention of Beverly’s father. Beverly sighed.

“I know, but, I just kind of like it at that length now. Any curl that goes beyond _this_ line will be _beheaded.”_ she said jokingly, measuring a line in the middle of her neck as to where her hair is supposed to be above.

“Oh, so, Richie, that means you’ve gotta cut my hair later now.”

Richie smirked. “Of course, yer’ majesty.”

Bill gaped. “Since w-when t-the fuck have you been t-trusting _Richie_ t-to cut _your_ hair?!” Greta gaped along.

Beverly shrugged. “Ever since we were twelve.”

Greta gasped. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It wasn’t important.”

“How is _t-that_ not important? Oh, so if Richie ‘accidentally’ gave you a bald spot, it isn’t important, huh?” Bill laughed.

Greta chuckled and threw an arm around her. “Whatevs. Go with me to my locker, I need to grab my notebook for Photography later. Plus, Ben’s there, you guys can show me what you got.” Greta said with a wink.

Beverly shoved her lightly. “Oh, shut it,” she said, walking away with her, leaving Bill and Richie together.

Bill threw his arm around Richie’s neck as well. He smiled nervously. “ _Hey.”_

Richie blinked at him. He then realized what he was up to. “No, you’re _not_ going with me to my locker just to see Stan.” Bill’s smile fell a little, then went back up since Richie realized what he was gonna ask, and he laughed.

Richie smirked. “ _However,_ you _can_ get my History notes for me to see Stan. You can _also_ drop them at my desk in History class, ‘cause me and Stan have the same first period classes and we sit next to each other.” Richie said, watching as he saw a familiar small boy walk through the halls.

Bill rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “You just want me to do your first period routine for you.”

Richie chuckled. “Yeah, I do. Now go get ‘em, cowboy!” Richie said as he grabbed Bill by both of his shoulders and turned him around, slapping his back after. Bill let out a soft _ow,_ whilst rubbing his back. He walked off anyway. Richie walked off quickly into the direction of where he saw the familiar, small boy walked off in. He then met up with Eddie, taking out Math notes from his locker. Eddie slammed his locker, and that’s when Eddie saw him. The first thing he saw was his collar, though, since we’re talking about Eddie here, and he’s short as fuck. He looked up and he saw Richie grinning down at him. Eddie took a moment to absorb into his mind what Richie looked like. _Oh my fuck, the hot fucker wore a fucking V-neck._ He saw how Richie’s hair was messier than usual, and he fucking _gulped._ He had no idea why, but Richie just looked ten times hotter than he usually was. ~~(If Stan ever heard this, he’d probably roll his eyes so hard that they’d roll out of his eye sockets and they’d roll across the floor.)~~

_Oh, fuck. That’s hot. I’d totally let that guy fuck me._

Richie noticed that he wasn’t speaking or reacting for a while, so he waved his hand in front of Eddie’s face. This made Eddie break out of his thoughts, and he smiled nervously at Richie. Richie smiled back.

“H-“ Eddie coughed, thinking that his face might be super red right now and he tried to hide it, red or not. “Hey! Richie.”

Richie raised his eyebrows. “Hey.” He looked down at Eddie and absorbed into his mind what he was wearing. He was wearing a salmon pink sweatshirt ( _this guy must REALLY like sweatshirts_ ) and— _oh._

_What the fuck? Wearing shorts these short should be fucking illegal. They could kill someone._

\--short, red shorts that ‘ _fucking hugged tight around his ass’_ , in Richie’s words. He coughed and instead, grinned. “Last night was fun, huh?”

Eddie smiled at him, the red on his face eventually fading to a hot pink.

Some girl across from them heard what Richie said, and it caught her attention. She glanced at the two, and seeing their flush and flustered faces, she immediately assumed that. They did the _something_ last night.

She started whispering to her friend who grinned.

Neither boy noticed this, and they just ended up bickering over something.

The bell finally rang, and Eddie looked around. “Hey, Beverly’s not here yet. Where is she?”

Richie shrugged. “She’s hanging out at her boyfriend’s locker.”

Eddie frowned. “She’s got a boyfriend already? That sucks for Ben. It’s not my place to tell you this, but Ben has a giant crush on her. Always has.”

Richie shook his head and grinned. “Her boyfriend _is_ Ben.”

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed, and then he looked up at Richie and smiled a wide, unbelieving smile. “ _What_. When, where, and how?”

Richie pursed his lips, remembering what Beverly told him. “One, he’s her new boyfriend, two, yesterday, three, in her van, and four, she drunk-confessed.”

Eddie nodded and smiled. “Lucky Ben.”

Richie grinned. “He is lucky indeed, he scored himself a crazy lil’ fucker.”

Eddie laughed. “You need to stop saying that.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “Why? It sounds nice.”

Eddie shook his head, and just as they were gonna wish each other goodbye and walk off to their own classes, a hurrying Beverly turned from the left hallway, ran and slammed herself onto her locker, getting some grease onto her red t-shirt, which disgusted Eddie, but he kept his mouth shut.

Richie laughed and patted Beverly on the back as she messed around with her locker code as quickly as she could and started rummaging around her things, trying to find her Arts kit. “How’d it go?”

Beverly yelled an _aha!_ When she finally found her large Arts kit. She then turned to Richie and said “Well, we did nothing except be total motherfuckin’ softies. Gotta blast!” she said in her best Jimmy Neutron impression and ran to the direction of the Arts I class. Richie rolled his eyes.

“Uh, I gotta head to Math now. Bye.” Eddie smiled softly.

“Well, I gotta head to History now. Gotta blast!” he said, mimicking Beverly, which made Eddie giggle. He smiled at this, feeling his heart flutter at the sound. He then walked backwards a bit, saluting, and then finally running to his History class. Eddie watched him for a while, rolling his eyes and smiling, until he went to his Maths class.

-

“Richie To-zee-er…?” Mister Bonifacio called out. He was the only teacher who checked who was present and who was absent; just to make sure no one was skipping classes. Right on cue, Richie kicked open the door and yelled “Yes, sir!” In his best impression of Matthaios. He closed the door right after and ran to the desk with a bunch of notes on it beside Stan, jumping over a pile of notes on the floor next to some guy in the front. He looked at Richie nastily, but he didn’t notice and sat next to Stan, grinning and looking around. Stan shook his head at him. Mister Bonifacio glared at him nastily as well, but then he shook his head and then continued on with his list of names. “ _Katie Hudson… Tyler Kennester… Tom Golden…”_ His voice was drowned out in the middle by the sound of Richie.

“So, how was Bill?” he whisper-yelled to Stan, leaning over and cupping his hand over his mouth for extra effect. Stan raised his eyebrows. “You know?”

Richie rolled his eyes, leaning back. “Of course I do. I was the one who sent him to get my notes, _duh_. But answer my question. How was Big Billy?”

Stan opened his mouth to respond but Richie put a finger to his lips, making Stan confused as fuck. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me guess.” Richie said, and then rested his head on one of his hands, and curled around with a stray hair with his index finger on the other. “ _Oh,_ Richie, he was _so_ dreamy and _so_ charming, he was super cute and he was super kind, and it kinda made me hard!” Richie said in his _Daisy Girl_ voice. Stan turned dark pink with embarrassment and hit Richie flatly on the side of his head. “No shit, dipshit!” he whisper-yelled. “No. But he _was_ kind.”

“—and _dreamy_ and _charming_ and _cut-“_

This earned him an extra smack from Stan.

-

“Jadeson’s t-today or are w-we going to the cafeteria?”

Bill asked his three friends, Greta, who was staring at one of her nails, Richie, who was extra jumpy and happy today ( _why in the fuck?_ ), and Beverly, who seemed to be lost in the world of music, with two Apple earpods (a gift from Greta during her 17th birthday in February) shoved in both of her ears. Bill waved his hand in front of her face, which made Beverly snap out of _Boys_ by Charli XCX. She smiled and took off both of the earpods and said, “Whoops, sorry, just thought it’d be fun to throwback.”

Greta snickered, checking her other nail. “I get the outfit.”

Bev groaned. “Okay, fine. I admit, I just kinda missed 2016, so here I am, throwing back, wearing clothes like this and listening to Becky G and Charli XCX.”

Richie leaned over and glanced at her white Vivo phone, seeing her playlist _Throwback Thursday_ _😝🤓._

“If you’re throwing back, I suggest Ke$ha, Owl City, and literally every Katy Perry and Taylor Swift song that doesn’t cross the line of 2015.” Beverly pursed her lips and nodded.

Greta furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at her phone. “The fuck? You don’t have any Demi Lovato songs?”

Beverly threw a surrendering look at her threw her arms up. “Aight, aight! I’ll download some later when Richie’s giving me my haircut.” Bill decided to see what they were all talking about, and he saw the playlist title.

 _Throwback Thursday_ _😝🤓_

“Bev, it’s not T-Thursday.” Bill said, in the same matter-of-factly tone Stan uses.

Beverly hissed at him. “ _Shut_.”

The two girls then blabbered on and on about which One Direction song to download, when Richie says something about Taylor and Katy, then the two babbled about which of the two has more of a ‘ _vibe’_ until Richie shouts at them that they have no throwback music taste at all and then reminds them of Fall Out Boy and then the three start squealing about like little girls. Bill rolls his eyes. _I was gonna shout about MCR, but it’s probably best that I don’t._

“ _GUYS!_ Are w-we going t-to Jadeson’s or are w-we going t-to the cafeteria?” Bill shouted. The three turned to him, eyes widened. They said “Cafeteria, obviously” in unison and they went back to squealing about Fall Out Boy. Bill decided to join them, since, why not?

“Guys, you’ve w-went over t-the line of 2014,” he said jokingly.

Beverly threw an angry look, with no actual heat. “It doesn’t matter! Throwback is throwback!”

Bill rolled his eyes. “If you guys are gonna t-throwback t- _that_ far, I’m just gonna create a w-war here: MCR exists.”

Greta gasped and grinned. “Oh my _fuck,_ My Chemic- God, I miss that! Bill, do you remember when we used to get stoned to _Black Parade?_ ”

Bill grinned back. “Of course I do. But I t-think w-we got stoned to T- _Three Cheers_ , not _Black Parade_.”

Riche huffed. “Just saying, me and Beverly got stoned to Centuries by Fall Out Boy. Like, we got _so_ stoned we couldn’t stand.”

They argued about MCR and Fall Out Boy in the hallways loudly whilst walking to the direction of the cafeteria. Greta asked them a Would You Rather question about the songs Phoenix or House of Wolves, and when Bill was the only one who chose House of Wolves, he sighed. But then he started laughing. “I thought we grew out of our emo phases.”

“You guys had emo phases?” said Stan, who was walking alongside Mike, Ben and Eddie. They were now all together, like they always were.

Beverly scratched the back of her neck. “Uh, we still are _, kinda_ ,” she coughed and laughed.

“Well, it is true. We’re into The Chains and it is absolutely fucking _amazing._ ” Richie said proudly.

Mike laughed from the back. “Oh my God. I can’t believe it. You guys had emo phases.” he said, smacking his face with his palm as he laughed.

“It’s true. I could show you this one picture where Greta had a phase of black eyeliner and jeans with giant holes in them. Like, _gigantic_. Greta’s kinda improved,” he said, gesturing to the light-blue acid washed ripped jeans she’s wearing, which is just normal Crissa ripped jeans. “And I could also show you this one pic where Greta dyed one of her hair strands black for the fun.”

Greta turned red. “Richie, _please_ don’t.”

Richie grinned. “How much’ll you pay?”

“I swear to God, show them pictures of me back then and I _will_ show them your black-hoodie-and-eye-bags phase.” She retorted.

Richie immediately shut up.

“The phase only two months, though,” Bill explained. “In 2014.”

Eddie blinked. “You guys had an emo phase. When you were _11?”_

“Yep.”

“And you guys smoked when you were _11?”_

“Yep.”

Eddie laughed.

“We all looked terrible trying to pull an all-black, except Beverly. She looks nice in _everything._ ” Richie said, saying in his _Stanley’s matter-of-factly voice_.

“I agree.” Ben said, smiling and sliding over next to Beverly. She smiled back. Richie noticed this and feigned gagging. Beverly smacked him on the shoulder.

They reached the cafeteria, and they all sat in the same places they did before, but this time, Richie, Eddie, Stan and Bill were next to each other, and Beverly had her arm around Ben. They were so sweet that Richie almost gagged for _real_.

They all got up to order the cafeteria trash, except for Greta, of course, who had packed herself lunch, and Beverly, who packed three pancakes she _technically_ stole from the Toziers’. The rest of the six had to put up with the school slob.

They all sat down and started talking about random things, until Eddie looked back up at Richie next to him and took another moment admiring how ~~hot~~ he looked. He felt his face burning up again, and Stan noticed this. He nudged Eddie slightly. Eddie faced him and Stan whispered in his ear, “What’s up?”

Eddie faked a smile, even though his face was red as _fuck,_ and when he turned to Stan, Bill, who was _very_ obviously just staring at Stan, noticed Eddie. He made a gesture of pointing to his own face and making the _why?_ Gesture. Eddie shook his head.

“What? Nothing.” Eddie responded to Stan. Stan pursed his lips.

“It’s obvious that something’s up, Eddie.” Eddie sighed.

He hesitated, and he reluctantly leaned in to whisper back very quietly that Stan could just _barely_ hear him and was lucky he did, “I just think Richie’s looking extra hot today.”

When Eddie pulled away, he met eyes with a confused Bill and a Stan who was rolling his eyes really hard Eddie thought they might pop out. “Okay, I’m not the right person to be told that about.”

“What?”

Stan pointed to the tall boy having a conversation with Beverly on the other side on Eddie’s left side. Eddie turned a bit redder at the ears, and he frantically shook his head. Bill leaned in closer; and both reasons are to just be closer to Stan and to hear what Eddie and Stan are talking about. When he saw Stan point to Richie and Eddie’s red face, he grinned deviously.

“ _Oh,_ ” he said, quiet enough so as to not let Richie hear, “W-what’s up w-with Richie t-today, Eddie?” He said in a sly tone.

Eddie groaned quietly and was glad Mike, Greta and Ben were talking loudly to each other about TikTok all-stars. “ _Nothing_.”

Bill raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand how your red face says _nothing_.”

Stan rolled his eyes and pushed Bill lightly away by the face. “Stop being so cheeky.”

Bill grinned and pulled Stan’s hands away from his face, putting them gently onto his lap. “T-tell me, Eddie!”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You’re so childish, Bill.” He huffed, and then whispered something into Stan’s ear. Stan nodded, then turned to his right side, which was Bill’s direction. He pulled the taller boy to his direction by the shoulders and leaned in near to his ear and made Bill think _okay, what_ until Stan whispered “He just so thinks that Richie’s looking a—“ Stan pulled away to show a gesture of air quotes, "—'extra hotter'—" and said quietly, “—today.” He grinned. Bill grinned as well. Eddie shook his head and put his head in his hands.

Bill turned to Stan. “And just w-what w-were _you_ t-telling him?”

“To tell Richie that.” Stan grinned.

“Okay.” Bill looked over the shorter boy’s shoulder to call the much shorter boy. “Pssst!”

Eddie looked over. Bill grinned. “Go on, t-tell him.” Eddie frowned. “No.”

“Yes. Or else.”

“Or else what?” Eddie raised an eyebrow and threw a lopsided grin at him.

Bill grinned deviously. “Or else _I_ w-will.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

“W-watch me.”

“Wait, _don’t—“_

Bill crossed his arms. “And w-what harm w-will it do? You just t-think Richie’s hot. T-That’s it.”

“You guys are being _such_ twelve year olds about this,” a new voice joined in.

Bill, Stan, and Eddie looked over to the direction of the voice. It was Beverly, blowing a piece of bubblegum she was lent by Greta, who was no longer having a conversation with Richie since he decided to join Greta on about which D'Amelio was better and Beverly was not having that. (Like, _what?_ They're _siblings._ They're _equal.)_

“Do it the High way, we’re like, _seventeen_.” She rolled her eyes.

“You mean _you_ guys are seventeen. Some of us haven’t had our 17th birthdays yet.” Stan said in his classic matter-of-factly tone.

Beverly rolled her eyes again. “Yeah. Whatevs.” She then smirked and faced Eddie. “If you don’t say it to him, I’m _so_ gonna shout it out.”

Eddie’s face which was recovering from the redness and was returning back to his normal tan colour, turned a bit pink. “Please don’t.”

Bev snarled, popping the bubble she made then chewing it back in. She raised an eyebrow. “Then do it."

Eddie inhaled sharply (which alarmed Stan), and said “Fine,” but since he took a long time doing so, Beverly put her hands in front of Greta and Richie to get them to shut up so she can tell them what Eddie wants to tell Richie (and partly because she was tired of all the Dixie and Charli comparisons, they’re both fucking awesome you shitheads).

“Richie, FYI, like I’m just gonna casually drop this here and you can just continue on with your _ohmygosh like Dixie's SO much better than Charli-_ what _ever_ , so like, Eddie thinks you’re hot. That’s it. That’s all. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.”

The group went silent for a while. Eddie’s face was red as fuck, Stan and Bill were grinning wildly like children, Mike and Greta were slightly offended by Beverly’s choice of words, and Richie turned slightly pink. He then put on a smirk, waved his hand dismissively and said, “Of course he does. I mean, it is true. Not that you look bad yourself, cutie,” he said in a joking tone whilst throwing a wink at Eddie and then turning back to Greta to talk about how fake Charli was. Of course, we all know that, inside, he was flustered as _fuck_ and was shouting _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_ all over, but let’s _not_ mention that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the throwback hhhhhhhh i was like writing the last half on a thursday. and guess what. it was a throwback thursday!!!! i totally didn't cry while rereading this  
> fyi i NEVER had an emo phase ok!! just because i used to wear black all over and love Fall Out Boy/MCR doesn't mean i was e m o. i might've called myself 'edgy', but.  
> shut.  
> EDIT: do y'all notice how i make bill stutter only at the words that start with 't' and 'w'?


	5. Maggie Tozier Is Awesome/Birthday Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie grows a little closer to his best friends, and it’s Stan’s birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bill loves stan bill loves stan bill loves stan ! oh and also this perspective of eddie is like a month and a half after that ‘richie’s hot’ thing
> 
> oh god D I A L O G U E
> 
> also!!!! I couldn’t decide on bowie or keene so Gretta Bowie Keene! also greta’s real name is spelt gretta but she likes it being spelt greta so that’s her nick
> 
> oh and there is MAJOR stenbrough in here sorry

Richie and Eddie were just friends. Right?

This wasn't a sex thing or a crush thing or a relationship thing. God, _no_. This was a... a _friendship_ thing. What kind of _good_ , wholesome, pure, male friends don’t have fantasies about dating each other or having sex with each other _, right_? Friends always feel like grabbing each other for kisses and cuddling and sloppy makeout sessions. All male highschoolers experience painful boners when their new close friends so much as grin in their direction. This was normal and Eddie was normal, _damnit._

_Oh, fuck._

Okay, so Eddie had a massive crush on this guy he just met a few weeks ago, so what! How couldn’t he fall for someone so funny, and so fucking _hot,_ with an air of friendliness around him, someone who he felt so safe around, fuck, he makes him feel safer than his mom does. _Not that he does feel safe around his mom._ How couldn’t he fall for someone who gives Eddie this warm, loving look that makes Eddie want to melt into the ground? How couldn’t he fall for someone so fucking hot? Oh, wait. He already said that. Well, sue him!

He wasn’t like the other boys back at his old place, no. The other boys Eddie did crush on were mean and never liked him back. They never even so much as _talked_ to him. But Richie was almost _everywhere_ Eddie went. Richie didn’t even try to hide the fact that he looks for Eddie in the crowd of teenagers after every single period. He’d always go by beside Eddie whenever he could; like during lunch, in classes, even when he’s just walking in a school hallway by himself after a class, when Richie spots him, he immediately runs to beside Eddie. He can’t get enough.

And it’s practically Richie’s fault he’s in love with him. Right? His charms, his fault. Oh, fuck.

Eddie’s been wanting to burst out to Stan and the others, but he’s scared of what they’ll think of him. They don’t even know that he’s _gay._ Oh, fuck. _He’s gay._

Eddie realized this a long time ago, back at where he first lived, when he was still really young.

Eddie realized at five that the entire world around him, whenever it’s _something couple-y or whatever_ , was about a girl and a boy. _A girl and a boy,_ he thought one night, lying in his bedsheets covered with patterns of Captain America. _Huh. But that’s weird. It’s always girls and boys. But I like boys and I’m a boy. Weird._ Eddie didn’t take much thought into it until he was eleven. He was watching TV, bored and draped across the couch tiredly that when you saw him you’d actually say ‘that guy’s bored’, with the TV remote in his hand, his other hand fiddling with the hem of his khaki knee-length shorts. He was watching some soap drama that his mom absolutely despised for some reason, he thinks it was called _Coming Out_ or something. On the TV, there was a scene of a teenage boy with a young girl, probably his sister, and another teenager, except she was a girl, and they were out for a walk in the park. Suddenly, the boy said “I’m gay.” to the girls, and the girl gasped. The younger girl asked “What’s gay?” and the older girl explained, “A boy who likes boys, in the couple-y way, sweetheart,” and Eddie dropped the TV remote, sitting up. He then said very quietly, barely a whisper, to himself, “ _I’m gay_.”

And when he was thirteen, he made the mistake of using his courage to confess to one of the boys he had a crush on. And that boy was _disgusted_.

He left thirteen-year-old Eddie on the grass, crying under the cover of a tree. And the next day, the whole school knew about it, and he was met with a lot of dirty looks and people whispering to each other in the hallways. In P.E., boys would always taunt him in the locker rooms. Until one day, someone punched him in the face _hard_ in the locker rooms. Eddie heard laughter erupt from one group of boys. His nose was bleeding. He was on the floor, in a corner, wiping the blood from his nose as he curled up. He was crying.

“That’s what fags like you fucking _deserve!”_ the boy whom he confessed to shouted, before he held his hand back up and threw another punch.

Another hard smack to the face.

Another pleading sob.

Eddie managed to escape the boys and their group and ran out of the locker rooms, still in his P.E. garments, and he ran all the way out of the school.

He never got to explain to his mom why his nose was bleeding or why he had a couple of bruises on his face and on his side from where one of the boys kicked him, but it drove his mother on the brink of crazy and she brought him to a hospital anyway. And thankfully, she took him out of that school and decided to homeschool him instead. _Homeschool is better,_ he thought, fiddling with the gauze on his arm. _No judging looks or bullies who want to kill me in the locker rooms._

Until the day they moved, of course. When he was sixteen. _Huh. Homeschooled for three years. That sounds lame._

_Then again, Mike was homeschooled for three years. So it’s cool._

Eddie sat in bed one night, unable to sleep. He was thinking of Richie. _Richie Richie Richie._

_Well, they’re my bestfriends. And if I should feel comfortable around them, I should probably tell them._

_That I’m gay, of course. Not the thing about Richie. Nope. Not yet._

And after he thought that and pressed it into place, pressed it into the part of his brain that managed his plans, he was gonna do it tomorrow. _I’ve got to do this._

-

_I’m not doing this._

Eddie gulped as he walked towards his closest friends that he has had for a single month and a half. His closest friends next to Richie.

Richie and the others _finally_ decided to have lunch at the nearby fast-food restaurant down the street, Jadeson’s, and Stan and the others were having lunch at school. With the school slob. Gross.

Eddie took his seat next to Stan, and he immediately realized that the group was five times quieter without the other half of the group. Stan smiled at him softly.

“Hi, Eddie.” He realized that Eddie looked bewildered as he sat, and Stan chuckled, guessing exactly the reason why. “Quiet, hm? Unusual, isn’t it?” He said, and Eddie nodded frantically, nervous. Nervous because of what he was about to do.

He let the group talk a while, talking about little things, teasing each other. He joined in their conversations as well, trying to be casual before he _casually_ laid out, _oh, by the way, guys, I’m gay, now just what were you saying, Mike?_

Ben noticed his nervousness today, though, and asked, “Hey, Eddie, something wrong? You’ve been extra nervous today,” with a worried expression. Eddie sighed. “There’s something I’ve got to tell you guys.”

He couldn’t believe he chose to do this at lunchtime in the cafeteria, where _anyone_ could overhear. Oh, well.

“And I’m only saying this now since I thought if we’re going to be friends I should be more comfortable around you guys and I’ve been wanting to say this since—“

“Spit it out, Eddie,” Mike said, impatiently but in a kind way.

“I—I’m,” he coughed. “I’m into boys.”

Silence.

“I mean—like I’m gay.”

More silence.

“I mean, it’s okay if you guys start hating me over this and—“

Eddie was scared at how quiet they were, _likepleasesaysomethinganythingplease-_

“Why do you think we’d hate you over this?” Ben asked, eyebrow raised.

“Huh?” Eddie perked up, looking around at his friends.

“Yeah, _why_? I mean, Stan over here is gay too, and I thought that was pretty obvious?” Mike said, pointing over to Stan. Stan rolled his eyes. “And by the way, Mike’s bi. Not as obvious as me, but yeah.” Stan responded, pointing over to Mike as well. Eddie looked over to Ben.

Ben shrugged. “I’m the only straight guy here, but, I’m okay with it. I support it too, like, might as well.”

Eddie let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, a sigh of relief. He looked up and smiled at them. “Oh, _God,_ I’ve been waiting to do that since forever. Thanks, guys.”

They all smiled back at him.

_That went better than I expected._

-

It was the thirteenth of July, and it was Stan’s birthday. All of the Losers were invited, of course (the name stuck to Stan, Mike, Eddie and Ben too, when Beverly told them about it). And Bill, of course. Of fucking course. It’s Stan’s birthday. But Stan didn’t plan it.

A few days before July the thirteenth, Saturday, Mike realized that Stan’s birthday was coming up whilst staring at his phone calendar and he straight up _gasped._

Ben was in his room, and he wanted to ask Beverly out on a _proper_ date, since, they only got together in her driveway. He was a darn _romantic,_ and he was thinking of getting her flowers and a card with a small poem. He was still figuring out what to write as he chewed on his pencil, the words _Your hair is January fire_ erased to be replaced with _Your hair is winter fire_ and he was thinking what next to write, when minutes later, he heard a loud thumping climbing up to his stairs and someone kicked his door open. _“BEN. BENNY. BENJAMIN HANSCOM. MY HANDSOME BOY. DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?!”_ shouted the familiar voice of his eccentric bestfriend.

Ben groaned and turned around in his rolling chair, covering the little _January embers_ card with a book. “I don’t know, Kick-Open-Your-Bestfriend’s-Door-And-Ask-What-Day-Is-It Day?”

Mike’s face fell. “ _Ben._ ”

Ben looked at a calendar across the room. “Uh, July eleven?”

Mike nodded. “Mhm, and what day is it in two days’ time?”

Ben raised an eyebrow at him. “…July thirteen?”

Mike put a hand on his hip and looked at him expectantly. Ben gasped and got up so suddenly that he almost fell off his rolling chair. “ _Oh.”_

“Text Eddie, text Eddie! I forgot his number. We _need_ to plan something for this.”

Ben swiped his phone from his desk, pulled up his Contacts app, and began scrolling down. As soon as he came up to E and found his contact _Eddie_ _😋😋,_ he began typing really fast that Eddie could barely make sense of it.

-

**my name’s benny >> Eddie** **😋😋**

my name’s benny : com 2 my hous rn liek RN. urgent matters come now

Eddie : what? where

my name’s benny : 3 blocks away from mike wich is 3 blocks away from sean hudson in ur direction

_Seen_

-

It was hard trying to convince his mom, but he made it out, still putting on a light grey jacket over a simple light purple Mr. Lee shirt tucked into jeans. Since it was six blocks away from Sean’s (whose house he still faintly remembered, y’know, in case Richie got super drunk and he had to walk both of them home) in his direction, it meant it was only four blocks away from his house. He could manage that.

-

“Your hair is winter fire, hmm? I don’t really know what next to put to that, Ben. I’m not really the poetic type. Maybe you could ask B-B-Billy, Richie tells me he’s amazing in Lit.” Mike said, leaning over Ben sitting in his rolling chair to see the card on the desk more clearly whilst they still wait for Eddie, but no need to, since Eddie was kicking Ben’s bedroom door open.

“Hey, guys,” Eddie said, sipping juice out of a straw from a juice box. “Ben, your mom’s really nice. She gave me this. What’s her name?”

“Arlene,” Ben said, pointing to the door. “Please don’t kick it open. Mike and Stan have been doing that for the past few years and I don’t need another person trying to break down my door.”

Eddie shrugged and grinned. “Sorry.”

Eddie glanced around his room. “Why do you have two calendars?” He asked, his eyes landing on the said double calendars. One of them was up to date, and the other was still in January 2019. “And why’s one of them still in January?” He also asked, walking up to them and trailing his fingers through the calendar picture in January, which was a bunch of teens in winter clothes, huddled around a fire. “Huh… January embers.” he says as his fingers trail over the fire. Ben’s eyes widened. “Your hair is winter fire, _January embers_! Eddie, you’re a genius!” He shouts as he turns back to his desk and writes something down quick. Eddie blinks, confused.

Mike rolls his eyes. “He’s trying to write a poem for his girlfriend.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Is this what this is about? Was this the ‘urgent’ matter? Did you call me to help you write a poem?”

Mike shook his head. “No—“

“Where’s Stanley?” Eddie said as he took a good look around the room.

Mike put his hands on his hips. “ _That’s_ what we called you here for.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “To help find Stanley? Why, is he—is he _missing?”_ he said worriedly, now panicking. Ben rolled his eyes and Mike went over to him to calm him down.

“ _No,_ dummy,” Mike replies not very comfortingly but anyway. “It’s his birthday in two days. We called you to help us, ‘cause, _duh,_ besties-for-the-resties celebrate each other’s b-day parties!” Mike said jokingly. _Mike’s been hanging out with Richie too much, hasn’t he?_ Ben thought.

Eddie signed in relief. “Oh. Alright.”

-

The three decided that after school on Monday (which was July thirteen), they’d call Stanley to come with them to Richie’s house (they called him on Eddie’s phone and told him about it, meaning Richie probably babbled about it to the other Losers, but he said he’d hold it at his house since Maggie and Went were the only adults who were seriously okay with a party being held in their house, birthday party or your-average-teenager’s-party because they were _valid_ ) for a party, and Stan, who was the type not to expect a birthday party at seventeen, would agree because Mike and Ben and Eddie was gonna be there and Mike would exaggerate how cool it was gonna be, _like, it’s gonna be TOTALLY awesome, dude, you should totally come, ‘cause, we’re gonna be there, and it’s gonna suck without you man,_ and Stan’ll probably think that Mike’s starting to speak a little bit more like Greta, but he’ll come anyway. And then when they make it to Richie’s— _BOOM!_ “There’s gonna be streamers and balloons and gifts and cake and _everything._ And Stan’s gon’ be like: _oh, wow, guys!_ And then he’ll love us even more than he does. Forever, for-motherfucking- _ever_.” Mike’s words.

-

After planning this, the three start fooling around with Ben’s stuff, and in a few hours’ time they’re all playing with Ben’s old Transformers action figures on Mike’s insistence like little children.

-

They were right about Richie babbling about Stan’s birthday party to the other Losers, because a moment later, Eddie and Mike’s phone started blaring.

-

**so like stan’s bday in 2 days**

_richie bitchie added 0120126290 and 0699574129 to the group chat._

jojo’s BOOMERANG : who dat rich

richie bitchie : mike and eddie

0120126290 : I’m sorry where is this

_richie bitchie changed 0120126290’s nickname to edsykins_

_richie bitchie changed 0699574129’s nickname to mikenike_

edsykins : no.

richie bitchie : yes

mikenike : add ben bro

richie bitchie : ye ye

_5:34 PM_

richie bitchie : **@mikenike** bro just realized I don’t have ben’s no.

mikenike : oh shit lemme do that my man

jojo’s BOOMERANG : b r o?

edsykins : m y m a n ?

richie bitchie : fuck off

_mikenike added 0956749238 to the groupchat._

_mikenike changed 0956749238’s nickname to ben handsome._

beaver boy : accurate

mikenike : why is your name beaver boy and not beaver girl?

beaver boy : beaver girl makes the aesthetic of the group chat die

mikenike : aight

ben handsome : since WHEN did mike understand stuff like that

b-b-billy : ANYWAY.

b-b-billy : STAN’S B-DAY.

b-b-billy : tell us what you planned

edsykins : did richie go babbling on to you about all we said?

richie bitchie : I don’t like your choice of words there edsykins

beaver boy : yep. something about balloons and streamers and gifts and food and games or smth

edsykins : then you know what’s gonna go down

beaver boy : oh

edsykins : but we need to assign places and shit

jojo’s BOOMERANG : what?

edsykins : i’m assigning

jojo’s BOOMERANG : I’m sorry bitch W H A T ?

edsykins : places, who’s doing who

jojo’s BOOMERANG : easy. bill’s doing stan and-

b-b-billy : GRETA S T O P

edsykins : I MEAN **WHO’S** DOING **WHAT** YSGUYSABVSAV I’M SORRY BILL

jojo’s BOOMERANG : oh, you and richie go and check the bedrooms together-

richie bitchie : I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE

beaver boy : mm I don’t think richie and eddie would make it to the bedrooms since you and mike would be there first

mikenike : GUYS.

edsykins : aight

edsykins : richie and mike blow up balloons and do things with the streamers

_richie bitchie changed his nickname to Official Balls Blower._

_Official Balls Blower changed mikenike’s nickname to Another Ball Blower_

Another Ball Blower : w ha t

edsykins : 1. that’s disgusting 2. bill wraps up presents so you better hand them out tomorrow so he can have a headstart before the party

_b-b-billy changed his nickname to poor soul who has to wrap._

poor soul who has to wrap : aight.

jojo’s BOOMERANG : I pay for all the stuff

jojo’s BOOMERANG : …if you make me decorate

edsykins : greta’s in charge of expenses and décor

beaver boy : AND ME.

edsykins : greta and bev for deco

_jojo’s BOOMERANG changed her nickname to No Decor No Pay_

_beaver boy changed her nickname to Does Décor No Pay_

No Decor No Pay : twins!

Does Décor No Pay : <3

edsykins : ben’s gotta be the guy to bring stan home

Official Balls Blower : uhh,,, ;)

poor soul who has to wrap : don’t.

Official Balls Blower : aight, srry

_Official Balls Blower changed ben handsome’s nickname to bring the man home._

edsykins : I’m gonna cook some shit

_Official Balls Blower changed edsykins’ nickname to bored trophy wife who cooks._

bored trophy wife who cooks : what.

bored trophy wife who cooks : oh and greta, richie, bev and bill set up speakers and the music because me, mike and ben’s music taste is shit so change it to smth stan might like y’know?????

bring the man home : ouch^^

Another Ball Blower : </3

bored trophy wife who cooks : so that’s basically it

Official Balls Blower : aight, g’even

bored trophy wife who cooks : what’s g’even?

Does Décor No Pay : it’s how we say good evening

Another Ball Blower : aight, g’even.

-

The next day, he woke up early and got dressed in a pair of ripped denim shorts with strands dangling off the hem (his cousin, Edith’s gift) and a light grey sweatshirt tucked in (with the usual knee socks and Converse sneakers, duh!), and when he ran down the stairs telling his mom he was going out, she was surprised.

“I’m going out with some friends today, ma,” he said, grabbing his backpack. She was about to respond but Eddie turned to her with a grim expression. “And I _wasn’t_ asking.”

Eddie’s seemed to have a bit more freedom on everything ever since he found out most of his pills were _bullshit_ via his old local pharmacist’s daughter. _Huh._ This was a few days before they moved, a few days after his dad died.

He picked up his bike on their lawn before riding it all the way to the center of the town, where he first met Richie, since there were a lot of stores there, like _Freezed-In._ Where Eddie met they guy. _Ugh._

He parked his bike on a little bike-rack thing before setting to walking off to a street where he saw a lot of shops. In the middle of him walking, though, there was a tap on his shoulder. A familiar _tap-tap-tap_ motion and smell of cigarettes (and _chocolate?_ ) told him it was a familiar dark-haired mop behind him. He turned around; hands on his hips, his long sleeved sweatshirt dangling off his hands adorably. He saw the said dark-haired mop—wearing a black Twenty One Pilots t-shirt underneath a long-sleeved Hawaiian t-shirt, and once again _the famous black ripped jeans._

Richie smiled nervously with a little wave as he scratched the back of his neck. “Hiya, Eds.”

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be blowing ball—“ he put a finger on Richie’s grinning lips before he made an anticipated inappropriate joke. “—loons?”

Richie put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Though he knew the real reason he came over to Eddie instead of ignoring him and carrying on, which was Henry and his goons were staring over at Eddie and probably his legs since _what the fuck those shorts are short as fuck they’d turn a straight guy gay,_ he lied. “We’re not going to my house until later. So why couldn’t I buy a gift for lil’ bird boy?” he grinned, leaning down and pinching Eddie’s cheek.

Eddie smacked his hand away. “Exactly what I was doing,” he was now pulling Richie by the arm to the direction of the street with a lot of shops. “Now come on. Let’s go, let’s find Stan a gift!” and as they walked away, Richie looked behind him and saw what he was expecting: Bowers’ eyes on him. He made an _I’m watching you_ gesture and then turned back to the shorter boy and where they were going.

It was a known fact that Richie Tozier wasn’t at all scared of Bowers and his gang, even if they beat the boy to a pulp, he’d brush it off and walk off. Not that they _could_ beat him to a pulp. It was kind of amazing, actually, how a boy who cried during the endings of Toy Story 3 and Finding Dory couldn’t give a single shit for Henry Bowers and his gang.

-

“How about this?” Came Eddie’s voice from another aisle in the shop, which made Richie immediately drop the pencil case with a bird flipping off the viewer with the words _give ‘em the bird_ and walk over to Eddie, seeing what he picked out. It was a book all about magnificent birds you could find in Derry and where exactly you could find them, and it was three and a half inches thick. Richie leaned down, picked it up and examined it. He grinned and looked at Eddie, making their faces only a few inches apart, and said, “Eds, it’s amazing! Stan’ll _love_ this!”

Eddie blushed, both at Richie’s praise and how close their faces were. “Yeah, sure, he’ll love it, but Greta will get him something better, like, I don’t know, a _cockatoo parrot?”_ He grinned.

Richie shrugged. “Yeah, maybe, but Stan will love your gift anyway.”

Eddie smiled softly at him before picking up the heavy book and putting it on the counter, where an uninterested teenage girl sat. “So, did you pick anything out?”

Richie grinned and leaned on the counter, facing Eddie. “Yeah. And I _know_ Stan will love it.”

Richie’s devious grin really didn’t convince Eddie, but he remained silent as they walked out on the streets to the bike rack together. When Richie began removing the chain and lock on his bike, Eddie fiddled around with the collar of his sweatshirt. “Hey, can I follow you around on my bike? I don’t really know where you live yet.”

Richie looked up at him when he finished removing the chain, and he grinned another devious grin. “You’re lucky my bike has two seats.”

“No—“ But before Eddie could protest, Richie’s hands were lifting Eddie by the waist and positioning him on the second seat of his bike. “But—Richie! My bike!”

“Don’t worry about it! I’ll ask Greta to pick it up when she passes by. She usually passes by here when she’s going out of her neighbourhood, which is over there,” Richie pointed to a street as he was getting on the front seat.

Eddie sighed. There was no way he was getting out of this now.

As they rode by, Eddie gripped his seat for fear of falling off, but after a few seconds, Richie proved to be a very fast and strong biker, and instead of keeping _some_ resemblance to his dignity he wrapped his arms around Richie as he strolled, clinging hard onto him. Richie might’ve almost fallen off and crashed the bike into a tree, but he tried not to. A few minutes later, they’ve arrived.

They both get off the bike (in Eddie’s situation, more like got _carried off_ the bike) and get inside. When they did get inside, they saw that Beverly, Ben, Bill and Mike were there already, sitting on the couch, waiting for Greta to arrive with the supplies whilst munching on Maggie’s Famous PancakesTM. Richie pulled out his phone and started texting someone, and Beverly smirked at Eddie. “Hey, Richie’s bored trophy wife that can cook.” Eddie flipped her off.

Richie plopped down onto the loveseat, and gestured for Eddie to come sit next to him. Maggie brought in another batch of pancakes and smiled at Eddie. When she got up to go, she looked out the window and saw ‘Richie’s’ bike just thrown across the lawn.

“Richie, I don’t mind that you just threw that bike, but your sister will.” She stated. Richie was still tapping on his phone as he responded, “Who cares? Not like Rhianne’s here to see me disrespecting her bike.”

“I’ll take a pic o’ that and send it to her if you want.”

Richie groaned, and to Mike and Eddie’s surprise, flipped off his mom. Even more surprising was that Maggie flipped him off back, not at all bothered.

When Richie left the room to go outside, Mike said “What.”

Beverly snorted and said, “His mom’s awesome. Like, if she can’t make pancakes for us, she’ll just order three boxes of pizza. We love her,” and the happy humming of Maggie stated that she was still here. “Thank you, Bevvie, you’re pretty awesome as well, babes,” she replied before walking back into the kitchen. Eddie now knew where Richie got his attitude from.

“His mom was wearing a _million_ piercings. And a choker.” Ben said, frozen and bewildered.

“Yes, she does.” Bill said, matter-of-factly, with a pancake in his mouth.

“And—and—she just flipped Richie off.” Ben said, still frozen.

“She prefers being called _Maggie,_ Benny,” Bev said, shoving a pancake in her boyfriend’s open mouth before shoving one into her own mouth.

A minute later they heard an engine being turned off, Richie saying “Ow!”, And the signature giggle of Junko Enoshima in the voice of Gretta Bowie Keene.

They all ran outside to see Richie acting hurt, doubled over on the ground, and Greta was smirking. She opened the trunk to her Chevrolet and starting handing out shopping bags to the Losers. “Here’s something to distract Stan with, say it’s from me,” she handed Ben a small package the size of a big book. “That’s the balloons for the ball blowers,” she shoved a small bag in Mike and Richie’s direction. “Gift wrapping equipment for the poor soul who has to wrap,” she handed Bill a medium-sized bag. “I assume you’re asking Maggie for the ingredients,” and that was directed at Eddie. Eddie replied with a curt nod. Greta took out a literal _bike._ “Bike for the short-ass,” Greta said and handed it to Eddie, who blew a raspberry at her, parked the bike outside Richie’s house and went inside. “And this is for me and Bev. Or the decorations.” She said as she planted a very large bag on the ground. Bev peeked in and her eyes widened and she grinned. They both carried it in and Ben left, headed to Stan’s just to hang out so he didn’t suspect anything.

-

Bill had just finished wrapping and he was going around checking the others. He went into the living room, seeing Richie and Mike looking miserable having to blow balloons for the rest of eternity. He chuckled when they both waved deflated balloons at him miserably, and he went to the other corner of the living room where Bev and Greta were, pinning letters to make out HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY. He peeked into the kitchen and saw Maggie and Eddie having a conversation. “I believe its four eggs, not five.”

“Four?” Maggie asked, scratching her head. “Oh jeez. I must be getting old. Oh, no, _my darkest fear!”_ she joked and Eddie laughed.

Bill let them be and went and sat down next to Mike and Richie. “Hey, you miserable bitches. I’ve just finished and got nothing better t-to do so I’ll help.”

Mike and Richie were more than happy to throw a load of deflated balloons onto his lap. “Blow your own balls,” Mike said jokingly.

Bill rolled his eyes.

-

“Hey, Richie, I think I’m starting to like that short kid,” Maggie said, TV remote in hand, her legs draped all over the couch as she was lying down, leaving Richie to sit on the loveseat alone. They were watching one of their favorite TV shows and it was 10PM.

“You mean the cute guy?” Richie said, bored, as he melted into the loveseat.

“What’s his name?”

“Eddie. Just moved in a month ago.”

“Do you like him?” Maggie asked, now grinning.

“I mean, duh.” Richie said, seeming uninterested.

“No, I mean, do you _like-like_ him?”

“You’re asking too much questions.” Richie grinned and threw a cushion at his mom. “You’re lucky Rhianne isn’t here or you’d be in a pillow fight against two.”

Maggie picked up the cushion she was lying on, got up, and threw it at her son. “Stop throwing empty threats at me, dickhead.”

-

Maggie and Went decided to go out somewhere for the afternoon tomorrow, since the Losers were going to be partying there. Richie loves them.

-

July thirteen came. The Losers (except Stan) couldn’t wait for the day to be over, and when it was, all of the Losers except Ben and Stan rushed to get to Richie’s house.

“Where’s Mike?” Stanley asked, putting on his backpack. Ben was waiting for him at his locker.

“He got a little flirty with Greta in Geo today, and the lucky guy got to ride in her limo.” Ben lied, but Stan bought it and rolled his eyes.

“Hey, uh, do you want to come with me to Richie’s house today? There’s a party there, and his parents aren’t home.” Ben offered, though Stan knew he’d drag him there anyway if he said no.

“Yeah, sure.” Stan said and smiled. “Just let me drop off my stuff back at home.”

-

“Guys! Shut t-the fuck up, t-they’re in t-the driveway!” Bill whisper-shouted, and everyone immediately shut up.

The door opened. Stan was there, Ben’s hands covering his face, and he was giggling. “Alright, alright! I don’t understand why you’re covering my face. Is there gonna be a bunch of naked people at this party?” Stan then noticed how quiet it was and frowned. “I thought you said there was a party… why’s it so quiet?” Ben then removed his hands from Stan’s eyes and everyone shouted on cue, “ _Happy Birthday Stanny!”_

Stan blinked. “It’s my birthday?”

Richie came up to him and punched his shoulder playfully. “You don’t even keep track of your own birthday? What the hell, man!”

“Oh, yeah. It’s July thirteen.” He said as he looked around. There was a table right in front of him with a big-ass chocolate cake with two layers, jugs of pink lemonade and platters of glazed donuts. There was a big HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY plastered above it, with a piece of paper that said STAN D MAN taped next to it, probably by Richie. He peeked into the living room and saw even more decorations plastered everywhere, and he saw a couple of gifts in one corner, and a few board games on the coffee table, with eight different colored bean bags around it. He grinned and turned to the Losers. “Oh my God, guys, _thank you.”_ He started walking towards them and that was signal for _group hug._ They all enveloped Stan in a big hug, and if they didn’t pull away and say they should let him open his presents first, he might’ve started full-on crying.

They went into the living room, and in the corner, was all of Stan’s presents, wrapped so carefully and neatly. “Did Eddie wrap all this? It’s so…neat. I love it even without opening the presents yet.” Richie nudged Bill and grinned. “Nah, B-B-Billy here did.” Bill turned bright red and when the shorter boy turned around to smile at him, he might’ve melted into the floor.

He got a bunch of things related to birds, obviously, a three-and-a-half inches thick book about birds in Derry from Eddie (that he absolutely loved), a pencil case that had an image of a cartoony bird flipping him off from Richie (obviously), a decorated birdcage, with little cushions and things that would make a bird more than comfortable from Greta—a _birdcage_?

“Greta, as much as I love the gift,” he said, trailing his fingers through the iron bars. “I don’t capture birds. I only watch them.”

Greta grinned. “Who said you’ve got to capture one, babes?”

Stan blinked.

Bill, who was in between Richie and Eddie, got nudged by the taller and shorter boy, causing both his arms to hurt. “Ow! Alright, alright!” He said, rubbing his arm. His face was blood red.

Bill headed outside, and you could faintly hear the trunk of Greta’s Chevrolet being opened, and when he came back in, you could hear a faint chirp.

When Bill came back in, he held the most beautiful bird Stan’s ever seen. A colorful bird that was about the size of his own hand, and with little black button eyes, it tilted it’s head towards Stan as Bill walked towards him shyly.

Bill kneeled down to where Stan was sitting, took Stan’s hand and put his hand on top of his to poke the little bird onto his hand. “Come on now, Ren,” he whispered to it, and it happily waddled over to Stan’s hand.

“It’s name is Ren?” Stan said, looking up from poking and playing with the little bird a little to Bill. Bill scratched the back of his head. “Uh—yeah.”

As Stan played with the bird, he asked, “You didn’t capture her, did you?”

Bill shook his head. “Me and Greta bought her at a pet shop, and she just w-warmed up to us right after.” He playfully poked Ren, and she playfully poked his finger back with her beak.

“She warms up to people easily, huh?”

Greta interrupted their moment. “He might’ve snuck in a photo of you in her cage so she would know who you were when he gave her to you.” Bill turned pink and got up to playfully punch Greta on the shoulder. She snickered.

Stan looked up at Bill and smiled softly. Bill ~~might’ve gulped~~ smiled back.

Stan opened the rest of his presents and he loved every single one. Again, he might’ve started full-on crying if Beverly didn’t excitedly exclaim “Time for cake!”

Beverly pulled Stan and Bill out of the living room to the dining room and the rest followed.

“Is it just me, or are Stan and Bill really…” Eddie broke off, looking for the right words.

“Romantic? Mushy? _Gay_?” Richie finished for him.

“Yeah, that.” Eddie rolled his eyes at him.

Richie grinned and he grabbed Eddie’s wrist gently, pulling him in the direction of the dining room. “Come on, Eds! You don’t want to miss out on the cake you made yourself, don’t you?”

Eddie rolled his eyes for the sixth time that day, chuckling as he let Richie guide him to the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the text thingies


	6. He Has A Thing For Tom Holland/Atleast Stanley Doesn't Get Dicks Drawn On Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now four out of eight Losers are dating--and Richie does something that surprises both himself and Eddie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so many references to a very losers club holiday season bcoz I don’t know shit about board/card games so please forgive me. and Coraline, Love Simon, and IT 2 spoilers like below and also mild reference to uh simon vs the homo sapiens agenda

They have now all moved on to the living room, where eight different colored bean bags were positioned around a coffee table with a stack of four or five board games and three decks of card games.

Since Richie and Eddie were the last to get cake (much to Richie’s dismay) they were also the last to be seated. They sat on the light blue and light pink beanbags between Bev and Greta (that seemed awfully suspicious of something when they sat, they had no idea why) and Bev declared they play Monopoly first. Ben was chosen as the banker as he was the only person who was trusted not to cheat.

The teams were Stan/Mike, Greta/Bill, and Richie/Eddie/Bev since Beverly didn’t have anyone to group with so she invited herself into Richie and Eddie’s team.

A few minutes later, there was a loud groan from Greta and Bill’s team. They _always_ won a game of Monopoly, but Mike and Stan owned at least three hotels and forty percent of the board. They decided to forfeit. Richie was currently trying to seduce Ben into giving him more money.

“Benny, _please,_ look at my cute face!” Richie said, making kissy faces. Ben laughed.

“ _No_ , Richie!”

“Excuse me, that’s _my_ boyfriend.” Beverly said, heading to Ben’s side only to make kissy faces at Ben as well. Ben shook his head.

Eddie was trash at this game anyway, and forfeited himself in peace, earning a sigh from his teammates who had failed seducing Ben.

The next game was Clue—much to Richie and Greta’s delight. Ben had now joined them and the teams had moved; Richie/Greta, Eddie/Bev, Ben/Stan, and Mike/Bill.

Greta was absolutely delighted to be on Richie’s team—the guy was literally the best at this game, and he was also an expert at cheating.

A few minutes in—Richie and Greta had done a lot of cheating, mostly Richie, who was taking advantage of his height and was peeking over at Eddie’s cards—then Greta won the game for them, reasoning that it was Miss Scarlett with the revolver in the study.

Next game was Scrabble (cue groan from Richie and Beverly) and then Mike was pulling out the board from underneath the coffee table.

The teams were now Richie/Bev, Eddie/Ben, Greta/Mike, and Stan/Bill. Richie and Beverly wolf-whistled at the two of their friends grouping with the literal love of their lives.

Stan and Bill were delighted; they could do this, yeah. They were both good with words. Ben was, too, but Eddie wasn’t. As for Mike—the guy didn’t really read much books anymore like he did; he spent most of his time at parties now, so he probably doesn’t remember much. Greta has a lack of vocabulary. So do Richie and Bev; perfect team, huh?

In the end, Stan and Bill _of course_ won the game, after Richie and Bev put down the letter R, Greta and Mike put down the letter A to make RA, Ben and Eddie put down the letter T to make RAT, and Bill and Stan added to make it BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC. Stan exclaimed in delight and Bill smiled at him softly. Eddie might’ve almost flipped the board.

The next game was the simple Snakes and Ladders game. The teams were now Richie/Ben, Stan/Greta, Mike/Bill and Eddie/Beverly.

The first team to make it to square 100 was Eddie and Beverly. Eddie let out a _whoop_ and Beverly shouted. “ _Fuck yeah_!”

They played a few more games before Greta groaned after she and Mike lost the last game and then she shouted, “Movie time, bitches!”

The group let out a whoop, and by the next minute Beverly managed to throw the games off the coffee table AND take the beanbags away with the help of Ben and Eddie.

Everyone squeezed into Richie’s couch as soon as they could, and as it was a three-person couch, Eddie, Mike and Greta got in, Beverly sat on the right arm of the couch, Ben sat on the floor next to her, and Richie draped himself all over everyone, legs over the left arm of the couch, and head practically on Eddie’s lap. Eddie tried not to let it get the best of him.

They arranged this seating a long time ago—without Stan and Bill’s knowledge, of course—so that it left only Stan and Bill standing, and they decided to squish into the loveseat, Stan _practically_ sitting on the taller boy. Richie looked up at Beverly from where he was lying, and Beverly grinned. They exchanged a secret high-five. Mike just leaned over Greta to Eddie; and he gestured to the two with a smirk. Eddie shook his head and smiled.

“ALRIGHT.” Mike shouted. “We chose Stanny boy’s _favorite_ movies, so, like, the bitch doesn’t complain about the movie being shit.” Stan flipped him off. “So, first off is _Spider-Man: Homecoming!_ The guy always had a thing for Tom Holland,” Stan giggled at that, and Bill frowned a bit but when he heard Stan giggle he smirked.

Halfway into the movie, Greta kicked Richie gesturing he get up and she said “Get the fuck off, Richie! I’m gonna get some snacks. Any requests, guys? Richie’s got a whole stash of them.” She said as Richie got off and she got up.

“Get me some Lays,” Beverly said, and then looked at Ben. “And some Oreos.” Ben smiled at her. He loves Oreos.

“Fanta?” Stan asked, and Greta nodded. “Fanta for me,” he said. “Fanta for me t-too,” Bill added.

“A packet of chips as long as its potato _and_ onion and sour-cream flavor.” Mike said.

“Kit Kat!” Eddie shouted through the movie. “Way to go telling everyone about my secret snack stash, Gret,” Richie harrumphed. “Some Mentos and a Kit Kat as well.”

_That explains why the guy always smells like chocolates. And cigarettes, yes, but chocolates._

When Greta went, Richie got up from the floor and took Greta’s place between Mike and Eddie.

Greta came back with the promised snacks for everyone and threw the snacks at them. She groaned when she saw Richie in her place, and then instead headed to where Richie was earlier and draped herself all over them, head on both Mike and Richie’s lap.

After the movie, Mike picked out Tangled on Netflix. Stan turned pink.

“Oh, and Stan has a soft spot for this movie. I remember when we were _twelve_ and Ben’s little girl cousin asked him who his favorite Disney princess was and he answered _Rapunzel.”_ Mike teased.

Stan turned redder, and Bill chuckled beside him. “T-That’s cute,” he commented. Stan shoved him away gently by the face, smiling. “Shut up.”

Richie added, “And when _we_ were twelve, we lied about in bed all day smoking pot and listening to Fall Out Boy.” Beverly snorted.

The movie ended an hour and a half later, and then Mike reached for the remote to switch it on to Coraline. “Alrighty, folks, Stan has also taken a liking to scary movies, so we decided to do normal-lest to scariest. Because it’s turning dark. Anyway, may I present to you _Coraline!_ ”

Everyone’s already finished their snacks so Beverly got up and headed to the Tozier’s kitchen’s popcorn machine. She then returned with a bigass bowl of freshly made popcorn. She set it on the coffee table, slapped Richie’s feet off it, and then pulled it closer to the group before sitting back down. Almost immediately after she sat down everyone had grabbed handfuls of popcorn already.

-

Eddie might’ve shrieked at the suspense of when Coraline ran away from her _‘other mother’_ and closed the little door shut.

“What? I thought she was going to get her,” was his response when everyone turned to him.

-

“Is it w-weird t-that I ship Coraline and W-Wybie?” Bill whispered to Stan.

“No, I do too.” Stan replied.

Eddie, hearing their conversation, shouted “It _is_ weird!”

Richie raised an eyebrow and whispered, “You’re the weird one, Eds.”

“Don’t call me that!”

-

“ _Aaaaand_ here we go. A horror movie of my choice.” Mike said, then sat for a good few minutes trying to remember what it was called. “Uh—I think it was called THAT?”

Greta giggled. “IT.”

“Oh, yeah. IT. IT’s about a clown and seven nerds or something.” He said as he started the movie.

-

Greta frowned as a blonde-haired bully poured trash all over the girl with red hair in the bathroom—and then lost it when she called the girl a slut.

“Hey, get lost, you little shit!” She shouted at the screen. “Tch, was probably angry that the gal was making her favorite masturbation place smell like smoke.”

Beverly snorted. She felt comforted for some reason.

“She’s cute, though,” Mike added. Greta shrugged.

-

During the scene in the creepy house on Neibolt, Eddie was gripping onto Richie, refusing to scream again. He did scream, though, when that creepy clown came out of the fridge and was— _dancing?_ —towards the fanny pack kid. He buried his face into Richie’s shoulder, refusing to look at the screen.

-

During the end of the movie, everyone sighed in relief that no one had died. Well, except the clown’s victims, of course, but anyway.

“Is there a sequel to that movie or something? It was nice.” Stan asked.

“I heard that IT Chapter 2 just came out last year.” Beverly suggested.

Mike shook his head. “Do any of you have favorite characters already?”

“That girl who cut off her hair,” Beverly said. Greta said “Me too.”

“T-The stuttering kid.” Bill added.

“The kid with asthma.”

“Uh,” Ben said. “That bookworm kid.”

“That kid with the curly hair.”

“The hot guy,” Richie said. Everyone looked at him curiously. “The guy with the coke-bottle glasses? The _hot_ guy?”

Greta snorted. “Of course you like him. You guys are kinda like the same person.”

Richie shrugged. “I dunno. That fanny pack kid was hot too, though.”

Eddie shrugged as well. “I liked that guy with the Hawaiian t-shirts.” Beverly snorted.

“Okay, yeah, I liked that farm boy,” Mike said, breaking through their opinions of who they liked better than the other characters. “But I heard that some of them are gonna die in the next movie.”

There was silence, and then Stan said, “Alright, next movie!”

-

They were now watching Snow White and The Hunter.

-

Ren did _not_ enjoy the amount of dead birds in the movie. Well, Stan didn’t enjoy them as much either, but it was Ren’s kind being killed, and there were loud displeased chirps that came from her during the movie. Stan, who left her cage open, gave her little pats on the head through the door, and Ren stayed quiet for the rest of the movie, hiding her face in her cushion-bed.

-

8PM, and halfway through Love, Simon (Stan fell absolutely in love with the book Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agenda when they were thirteen and he literally _shrieked_ with delight when they found out that the movie was _Coming_ _Out_ in 2017 when they were fifteen) Greta fell asleep, head on Mike’s lap.

“So,” Stan said at 9PM, after the movie had just ended. “Differences you spotted in Becky Albertalli’s book and in the movie?”

“Movie Alice and Movie Leo don’t exist.” Mike answered, playing with Greta’s blonde locks.

“Movie Leah is in love with Movie Simon.” Ben suggested.

“Movie Simon almost got to kiss Movie Cal, but Book Simon hasn’t gone anywhere near those lips.” Beverly said, sipping her Coca Cola.

“Dunno.” Bill said. “Never read t-the book.”

“Uh,” Richie said, yawning. “Movie Simon’s a top.”

“Is he?” Eddie asked.

“Uh, _yeah.”_ Richie said, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

“What makes you say that?” Eddie said, probably looking for an argument. “Movie Bram is a lawful top. Movie Simon’s a disaster bottom.”

“Only ‘cause you read the book first,” Richie snarled, but with no actual heat. “Saying Movie Bram is a top is like saying _you_ can top. If we _were_ in a relationship, I would _totally_ be the top.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, leaning closer. “Is that so?”

Richie smirked, leaning down a little. “Yup.”

“That sounds…vaguely _sexual_.” Stanley remarked, which made Eddie and Richie realize there were other people in the room _and_ got a laugh out of Beverly.

“Bitch!” She shouted, standing up on the couch’s right arm and pointing an accusing finger at Stanley. “You’ve watched I Am Not Okay With This, haven’t you?”

Stan grinned. “I am charged as guilty.”

Bev shrank back into her seat, smiling. “To be honest, you look a bit like Stanley.”

Bill blinked. “Of course he does, he _is_ Stanley.”

Beverly let out a loud guffaw. She wiped the imaginary tears from her eyes and she shook her head at a confused Bill. Stan only shook his head and leaned into the taller boy a little, smiling. “And you look like Sydney.”

“W-What?”

Beverly shook her head. “Nothing. Anyway, I believe that will be the last movie for today. Its 9PM, and Stanley, I think your parents are expecting you soon?” Stanley nodded. “Aight. So let’s clean up,” she said, getting up, which was signal for _get the fuck up guys I don’t want to be the only person clearing up your fucking mess._

Mike shook Greta awake gently. “Gret? Greta, wake up. It’s time to go.”

Greta opened her eyes slowly. She got up from Mike’s lap with a start, which almost made her fall off the arm of the couch and grabbed onto Mike’s shoulder on instinct, and he laughed. She scowled at him, but then she started laughing too and then she got off the arm of the couch.

Ben, Beverly, Greta and Mike were clearing up the mess in the living room, Stan and Bill were washing up in the kitchen, and Eddie went upstairs to check out more of Richie’s house, Richie following right behind him.

Eddie eyed a few photographs on a table in the hallway when he made it up the stairs. One picture frame that caught his eyes was labelled _2019 A Tozier’s Christmas_ and it was of Maggie with two ice cream cones in her hand, licking one of them; a man who he assumed to be Richie’s dad chuckling beside her, and below them; a girl who he assumed to be Richie’s sister flipping him off, Richie flipping her back off, and— _Beverly_?

Richie made it up the stairs and saw Eddie staring intently at the photo. He smiled. “Hey.”

Eddie had only just noticed him and looked towards him. “Hey.”

Richie walked up to beside him. He smiled. “That’s my sis, Rhianna, and that’s obviously Beverly,” he pointed to the two faces.

“Why’s Bevvie here? Doesn’t she celebrate with her family?”

Richie shrugged. “Bevvie lives on her own in a house her rich aunt bought her. Uh, no, ever since her dad died she celebrates with us. Practically my sister.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said at the mention of Beverly’s dad’s death.

Richie snorted. “No need to be, Eds. Her dad was a total asshole.”

“Oh… I’m not sorry, then.” Eddie smiled. “And don’t call me Eds.”

Richie smirked. “Alright, Edsykins.” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Hey, I can walk you home…?” It was supposed to be an offer, but ended up sounding more like a question. Eddie smiled. “Sure.”

“Oh, and uh, do you mind if Bev and Bill—“ Richie continued.

“I said _yes_ , you idiot.”

Richie smiled. “Okay. Let’s head downstairs,”

They headed downstairs and the living room was free of mess—unusual for the Tozier’s residence. Richie looked at Bev and she nodded. “Ben’s coming,” she stated. “Well, Eddie’s coming.”

“We just need Bill,” she reminded. Richie nodded and him and Eddie headed to the kitchen to call Bill, but—

“Yeah, alright, tough stuff,” Stan snickered, and Bill grinned. “W-what? It’s t-true!”

“Mhm,” Stan said, pushing away some strands of Bill’s hair away from his face, and then his hands trail down the taller boy’s torso. He looks up at him with the softest expression Richie and Bill have ever seen. “I just don’t get w-what you find so hot about T-Tom Holland,” Bill remarked, which made Stan giggle.

“Okay.” He says to Bill, his voice a gentle whisper that Bill could barely hear. Bill finds himself leaning towards that gentle voice, and now their faces are just two inches away, and now it’s just half an inch, and then—

“Let’s go,” Richie says, pulling Eddie away from the kitchen while grinning. “I think Bill can walk himself and Stan home.”

Eddie blinks. “Huh? Wha—why?”

Richie just shakes his head at that, and then mutters to himself “It’s been literally nine years since he fell in love with him—and they only get together now. Jesus.”

“Where’s Bill?” Beverly asks once they’re both out the door. Richie shakes his head and grins. “Kissing with the love of his life is where. That’s what I call a Sweet Seventeen for Stanley!”

Beverly gasps and Ben fist pumps to himself. Bev slaps him on the shoulder. “No fucking way. No _motherfucking_ way, Rich. You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re not. Holy shit.” Beverly is currently having a full-blown panic attack. “Nine fuckin’ years, dude, and only _now_?”

Richie rolled his eyes. “You fell in love with Ben seven years ago and you only got together a month ago.”

Beverly blushed. “Beep-beep, Trashmouth.”

Eddie blinked and then grinned. “What’s that?”

“A way of getting him to shut up.” Bev said, pulling Ben alongside her.

Ben smirks. “I win; I’ve been in love with you for nine years.”

Beverly smiles at him. “Aww, Benny, that’s so sweet!”

Richie feigns gagging and Eddie makes a face at them. “Blegh.”

Beverly flips them off.

“I guess Bill can walk himself home, huh?” Beverly said, and they started walking in the streets, Eddie picking up his bike and walking with it in his grip.

“I just hope they _did_ go home and didn’t start having sex in my parents’ bedroom,” Richie leaned down and whispered in Eddie’s ear. Eddie giggled.

-

They have reached Eddie’s house and, Ben’s house being farther down from Eddie’s, Beverly and Ben went and Richie promised Bev he’d wait for her when she came back down the street.

“This is it, Eds,” Richie said, as he walked up to his porch and curtseyed towards his door for Eddie. Eddie rolled his eyes. “Don’t call me that.” He said as Richie got up from his curtsey, and he pouted and crossed his arms. Richie grinned. “ _Cute, Cute, Cute!_ ” He said and pinched Eddie’s cheek. Eddie swatted his hands away. “I’m not cute.”

Richie shook his head. “Okay, keep telling yourself that.”

Eddie opened the front door, smirked at Richie, stepped into his house with a swivel in his hips that he _really_ didn’t mean to do, and waved at him _rather_ playfully before slamming the door shut. Richie sighed.

_He doesn’t know what he does to me, huh?_

_-_

Beverly had found Richie lying on the sidewalk a block away from Eddie’s house at 10:40 PM, looking up at the stars. He was in a position that Bev knew he got in when he was thinking. She lied down next to him. “What’s up, bub?”

Richie is bub, Bill is boop and Greta is beb. But only to Beverly.

Richie sighed. “This might sound sappy or whatever, but I think I’m in love with Eddie. Not just like, or like-like, I mean, love. _In_ love _.”_

Beverly scoffed. “And you’re only realizing this now?”

Richie blinked. “I dunno.”

Beverly rolled her eyes and sat up. “For one thing; I know Eddie’s better than your ex.”

Richie cringed and he sat up as well. “Come on; let’s go. Let’s kick Stan and Bill out from my bedroom.” Beverly chuckled and she got up, dragging Richie up with her, walking back to his house.

Mid-way, she said “I’m staying over.” And it wasn’t a question.

-

When they arrived at the porch, the absence of Greta’s Chevrolet in the driveway was noted. The silhouette of two boys kissing through the window was also noted. Richie groaned and Beverly gasped.

“Told you so.”

Richie opened the front door and yelled “Ugh, _guys_! Get a house!” And Richie could practically _hear_ Stan turning pink. They both heard giggling from both of the boys and the back door opening and closing.

Richie sighed and let Bev in before closing the door and collapsed on the nearest soft thing he could find.

“Nope, get up; I’m taking refuge in your bedroom and its cold.” Bev said, tugging him up from the pink beanbag he collapsed on. Richie groaned and followed Bev up to his room.

-

Its 12:20 AM, and Went had just bought a _kind-of_ drunk Maggie into the house.

“Richie?”

He went upstairs with Maggie, and then he found Beverly wearing one of her t-shirts she left in the Tozier’s house last Christmas and Richie’s boxers as shorts, snoring and drooling and practically spooning Richie in their bed. They both looked so peaceful that Maggie closed the door quietly and said, “That’s it. I’m becoming President of The United States right now and I’m adopting Beverly, whether Trump likes it or not!”

Went chuckled. “I don’t think you have to become President of The United States to adopt her.”

“Oh.” Said Maggie, dumbfounded. “Then I’m adopting Beverly, whether her parents like it or not!”

“Her parents are dead.”

“Oh.” Maggie said once again. “Does this mean we _can_ adopt her?!”

Went dragged her downstairs to their bedroom and said the usual “You’re drunk, Mags, let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

Maggie, though thirty-four, still acted as if she was seventeen, and no one in her family gave a single fuck because she’s just that lovable of a mother. _Forever young, huh?_

-

“Where have you been, Eddie?” Asked his mother in that same tone that used to scare and intimidate Eddie when he was little.

“I’m not that scared of you anymore, ma, and you don’t need to know.” He said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand which made her shrink back and skidded back into her room.

Eddie collapsed into his bed and didn’t even bother changing into his sleepwear, drifting off to sleep with the same thought that he’s had ever since Richie dropped him off:

_I’m in love with him. It’s not just a crush, fuck, its love._

-

“ALRIGHT!” Maggie shouted while kicking the door open, which made Bev and Richie wake and get up with a start. “SO. I’M GOING TO BE ADOPTING BEVERLY AND—“

Went pulled her out of the room and smiled nervously and giddy at the two teens. “Uh—what she means to say is, good morning and wake up because I made a bunch of pancakes and we bought some chocolate syrup last night so. Good. Morning.” He then proceeded to pull her downstairs like in those cartoons where they pull them by the back of their shirt, and Bev thought it was funny. They both muttered “I hope so,” and then they both shouted “ _Jinx_!” And they scrambled around the room finding clothes for themselves and changing into them before racing downstairs.

Beverly decided on a grey sweatshirt in her little closet next to Richie’s that Went had put in for her a few years ago, blue acid washed ripped jeans and pastel blue Converse sneakers. “Let’s go wear something simple today, dude,” she told Richie, and he replied “Okay. Whatever that means,” and he grabbed some clothes similar to Bev’s—a dark blue sweatshirt and black ripped jeans _once again._

“Don’t you wear anything else other than black ripped jeans?” Bev asked, and Richie shook his head no. “Aight, well, _race you down!”_ And that is how they both ended up falling down the stairs.

-

_Crying_

_Inside_

_‘Cause nothing I say ever comes out right_

_We’re on the same side_

_If I’m honest with you, you just go run and hide—_

Eddie turned off his phone alarm, and since the alarm was on those lines, he slept through his alarm for a minute and fifty-six seconds. _Great_.

He chose something simple—a puffy pastel violet sweatshirt, skinny jeans and a pair of white Fila sneakers. He grabbed his phone and his backpack and skidded downstairs, careful not to wake his mother, and headed to school.

-

“ _Hey Youngblood_!” Richie shouted as he and Bev walked to school. They were both singing—or rather _shouting—_ the lyrics of The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy in the streets.

“Doesn’t it feel—“ Beverly continued.

“—like our time is running out!” He shouted off-key and on purpose.

“I’m gonna change you—“

“—like a remix!”

“And I’ll raise you—“

“ _Like a Phoenix!_ ” Shouted a familiar voice behind them, and before they could turn around, Bill had jumped them and the boy had wrapped his arms around their necks.

“ _W-wearing our vintage misery_ —w-wait, no, let’s stop t-that. W-what’s up, guys?” He asked the two.

Richie grinned. “Apparently my parents are deciding whether or not they’ll adopt Bevvie!”

Bev smacked his shoulder. “They didn’t exactly confirm—“

Bill gaped at them. “No w-way. Oh, I w-wish!”

Bev raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like your family?”

Bill shook his head. “No, I mean, I w-wish I had you as a foster sister.”

Beverly smiled at him. “I may not be your foster sister, but I think I might be your soul sister.”

Richie chuckled. “And what about you, Billy? What’s up?”

Beverly snickered. Bill blinked. “Huh?”

“What’s. Up.”

“T-the sky?” He answered confusedly. Beverly held back her laughter.

“With Stan, I mean.” With this, Beverly lost it and Bill turned red.

“I believe you, quote-unquote; don’t get what’s so h-h- _hot_ about Tom Holland?” Richie teased.

Bill punched him on the shoulder. “Beep-beep, T-Trashmouth.”

-

After annoying Eddie and Beverly while hanging out at their lockers, he dashed to his History class and sat next to Stan, which is where he is now.

Stan, now thoroughly annoyed by the looks Richie was giving him, whisper-yelled at him “ _What?!_ ”

Richie chuckled. “How was your first kiss on your Sweet Seventeen, Stanny?”

“I—“ Stan turned red. “So you saw?”

“Mhm. And whose house did you go to yesterday night, yours or Bill’s?”

Stan punched him on the shoulder. “Beep-beep, Trashmouth.”

-

“ _Tell the mirror what you know she’s heard before—_ “ Beverly sang, a piece of Greta’s earpods in her ears.

“— _I don’t wanna be you…anymore_.” Greta continued. The two were listening to idontwannabeyouanymore by Billie Eilish, and Bill _still_ pronounced the _Eilish_ as e-liesh, and not eye-lish.

“You guys listening t-to Billie _E-liesh?”_ Bill asked them. Greta scowled at him. “ _Eye-lish._ ”

Bill narrowed his eyes. “Eye…lash.”

Greta moaned. “ _There’s no hope left for you_.”

Beverly looked at him worriedly. “It’s eye-lish, boop.”

Richie looked at Bill. “You told her yet?” He whispered and gestured to Greta. Bill shook his head no.

Richie shrugged _okay_ and they walked into the cafeteria.

Richie, Greta and Beverly sat themselves at Eddie and the other’s table, having packed their lunch, and the rest was still ordering school slob.

When the rest had already sat down, they all started chatting with each other. Beverly was talking to Mike about giving all of The Losers Club nicknames.

“Okay, okay,” Beverly started. “So I call Richie _bub,_ Bill _boop,_ and Greta _beb._ ”

“Uh-huh.”

“And now I’ll give all you four some too—starting with you, you’re bop.”

Mike fist-pumped. “Hell yeah!”

“Stan is _birb_.” Bill laughed, and Stan turned pink. “T-that’s adorable.” Mike and Greta, being the only two not knowing about Stan and Bill, narrowed their eyes at this.

“And, uh, Ben is _baby_.” Ben blushed. “And Eddie—huh. Eddie’s—Eddie’s _babes_. Or, uh—just babe. But babes is …better.”

Greta pursed her lips. “But _I_ call everyone babes.”

Beverly shook her head and her finger at her. “Nuh-uh, now you gotta call only _Eddie_ babes, beb. Call everyone else by their designated B-Name.”

Richie laughed. “Eddie’s _babes_?” Eddie turned red.

“What about you?” Greta asked. Bev pursed her lips. “Only _I_ can call everyone by their B-Names. You _can’t_ call anyone else by that. Only I can.”

Mike laughed. “B-Names?”

Bev narrowed her eyes. “Shut it, bop.”

Mike _did_ shut up, leaving Bev to go chat with Richie and Eddie about…whatever, he wasn’t listening, but then he looked over to Stan and Bill and they were a little closer than they usually were, Stan leaning his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. After a _very obvious action which was Bill kissed Stan on the forehead_ Mike lost it.

“Alright, what’s happening? Why’s the only virgin of our group being so close to the guy he’s been head-over-heels in love with ever since he was eleven?” He whisper-shouted. Stan scowled.

“One, _you’re_ the only non-virgin of our group, and that was because you were drunk. Two, uh—we—“

Mike gasped. “You and— are—“ And Stan nodded. And for a moment, he swore that he saw Mike’s eyes sparkle like stars for a moment and he turned around to whisper something to Greta. Stan rolled his eyes at him.

Bill heard their conversation because Mike’s just _not_ that subtle, and he leaned over to whisper something in Stan’s ear.

“I w-win, I’ve been head-over-heels in love w-with you ever since I was eight.”

Stan shuddered at Bill’s voice, but he also smiled dopily, knowing Bill’s liked him for that long.

-

Fifth period consisted of Richie and Eddie flirting in Biology, Bill asking a girl to switch seats with him in Chemistry so he could sit next to Stanley, Ben third-wheeling to Hanwie in Literature, and Beverly sleeping in English.

-

It was sixth period, and Eddie and Ben’s sixth period class was English.

Miss Warren was announcing that there’s going to be a play after Christmas break and that the theatre teacher, Miss Christina Winston, was going to put up a sign-up at the notice-board next to her office, and if they wanted to sign up then _sign up_ right after class, because Miss Winston was going to be calling them tomorrow during P.E. to audition, which was in the big theatre next to the gym.

 _Huh,_ Eddie thought. _If I sign up, I’ll get to miss P.E._

So right after class, he signed up.

-

Seventh period was Richie trying to figure out how to use a digital camera because he didn’t listen to Mrs Peters’ discussion last week so he didn’t know shit about a digital camera while Bill and Beverly took photos of him looking stupid in Photography.

-

And eighth period was Richie getting red watercolor paint on his shirt because of Eddie while Ben laughed at them from the front row in Arts I, Stan ignoring Greta and Mike flirting in the back row and wondering what Bill was doing in Geometry, while Bill drew dicks on Beverly’s arm while she was asleep in Literature.

-

People whose eighth period class was Literature saw a red-headed girl run after a laughing auburn-haired boy shouting _“WILLIAM DENBROUGH I **WILL** END YOU” _while there were dicks drawn in Sharpie on her arm after Lit.

-

“Hey,” Eddie said when he catched up with Richie, Bev and Bill. They had just raced each other out of Arts, and Richie won. “Did you guys sign-up for whatever play it is after Eng.?”

They all nodded.

“I checked t-the list, and it seems t-that only four out of eight Losers signed up. Uh, Greta signed up t-too, so t-that makes it five.” Bill stated.

Eddie frowned. “Stan, Mike and Ben didn’t?”

“From what I hear, Mike and Stan can’t act for shit, and Ben just doesn’t like acting.” Richie said.

Eddie pouted and he drifted over next to where Richie was walking just _because_.

Bill yawned as they walked through the streets; and Beverly drifted off next to Richie as well with her arms crossed, leaving Bill the only guy behind them.

“Hey! And I’m just supposed to w-walk behind you t-three like a lost fucking puppy?” He said, exasperated. Richie looked between Eddie and Beverly, asking about Bill. Eddie shook his head and leaned in closer to Richie (okay.) And Beverly just snarled at Bill.

“It appears so, Big Bill,” Richie said in his British guy voice. Bill scoffed.

“Why don’t you go cry about it to Stanley, Bill,” Bev said. “At least Stanley doesn’t get dicks drawn on his arm by some stuttering douchebag.”

Bill lost his shit laughing. Richie and Eddie just looked between the two; confused. Bev saw their confused looks and rolled up the sleeve of her sweatshirt, revealing at least four or five drawings of overwhelmingly huge detailed dicks. Eddie gaped and Richie snorted.

When Bill finally stopped laughing, they already made it to the cross in the road where Bill, Bev, Richie and Eddie parted ways.

-

The two finally reached Eddie’s house, and Richie was doing the usual things he did when he took Eddie home; he annoyed him with a really gross joke of his mom, Eddie would yell at him or smack him on the shoulder, then they’d smile at each other until Eddie decided to go in.

They were being ‘extra soft’ (what Bev would say) this time, Richie told a less-offending joke, Eddie laughed, and it instantly reminded Richie what he thought last night on the sidewalk a block away from Eddie’s house while he was waiting for Bev: _I’m in love with him._ And since he, well, _loves_ him, and Richie’s usual goodbye to everyone he loved was a soft kiss on the cheek, and he was still drunk from his yesterday thoughts, he _did just that._

Richie had just kissed Eddie on the cheek.

And Eddie let him, smiling.

Well, after that, they were both a little shocked but, Richie had just brushed it off and he said his usual _“Bye, Eds. Have a good night,”_ and Eddie said his usual “Don’t call me that!” And he went in to his house. And he collapsed onto his bed. And his mom thought he went to sleep early, but he didn’t sleep. At all.

-

Beverly was sketching a dress idea she thought of and didn’t want to lose, when suddenly a tall figure climbed in through her window and collapsed on her bed. She sighed.

“What’s up, bub?” She said, turning around. She already knew it was Richie.

Richie shook his head, signalling he didn’t want to talk about it. She sighed once more, returning to her sketching.

Richie stayed there for a few more hours, meaning he was staying over for the night. Richie usually stayed at Bev’s house when he was feeling down or—whatever.

At 10PM, Beverly crawled into bed with him, and she hugged him from the side. The two always liked spooning and cuddling—and it was always Beverly who was the big spoon.

Bev thought he fell asleep already—but he didn’t sleep. At all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> platonic marshie (bevXrich) IS THE B E S T . i mean platonic billverly and stozier is too but- yeah. and platonic stanlon. and- AAAAAAaaAa  
> I'm actually debating whether or not maggie and went should adopt bev. should they? should they not??


	7. Don’t I Get A Goodbye Kiss, ‘Chee?/Didn't Know Bill Had To Shower Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie flirt, and Richie and Bev get a surprise when they get home to the Toziers’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning?? I think?? is underage smoking. like, they did it when they were eleven. its just a flashback so
> 
> idk if that’s a tw but ill just put that there 

Richie woke up with a backpack and a bunch of clothes to the face.

“Wake up, Trashmouth! We’re like, _two_ hours late! Normally we’re just an hour late!” Beverly screeched, and she was running around the room gathering her stuff.

Richie got up with a start and looked down at what Bev had thrown at him. It was a bunch of clothes he had left here before, a pink-orange Hawaiian t-shirt, a Fall Out Boy band tee and knee-length shorts. He looked up at Bev and saw that she was putting on dark green suspended shorts above a red t-shirt. She saw him looking and said, “Yes, Throwback Wednesdays totally exist now.” Richie grinned at her and just put on his clothes.

They raced downstairs _again_ but there weren’t plates of hot pancakes waiting down for them so they decided to just toast two pieces of bread and drive around town in Bev’s old van with it in their mouths.

“I feel like that one girl from Yandere Simulator,” Bev says loudly while she was driving, her voice a little muffled due to the piece of toast in her mouth.

“Ayano?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

-

Eddie wasn’t as late as them, but he was definitely late.

You _can’t_ expect not to be late after staying up until 1AM thinking about your stupid crush.

First, he slept through his alarm. And when he woke up realizing that, he grabbed random clothes out of the closet and didn’t bother fixing his hair. And he stumbled over a chair downstairs, which totally woke his mom which led to Sonia babbling on and on about things that Eddie really didn’t listen to, but he did hear his mom’s complaints about what he was wearing, which made him look down and realize that he was wearing ripped denim _shorts_ that were short as fuck, they were the type of shorts that girls wore when coming over to their boyfriend’s house to do indecent things. His mother’s words. _Where did I even get these—oh yeah. My cousins._ And he was wearing this large black sweatshirt that showed off his collar and draped a little off his shoulder, and—

Oh, fuck. This is Richie’s _._

_“Jesus Christ, its cold as fuck down here.” Eddie whispered. The Losers were walking together after lunch again, and Eddie and Richie were heading to Bio._

_“Really? I think it’s really hot here. I don’t understand how you think it’s cold.” Richie responded._

_Eddie rolled his eyes. “It’s because you’re wearing a sweatshirt, dude. But I don’t really understand it either.”_

_Richie looked down at his black sweatshirt and looked back at Eddie wearing a salmon pink polo shirt. He started stripping off his sweatshirt, leaving a black tank top underneath. “Here, you can wear this.” He thinks he heard Greta mutter “Absolutely smitten,” or Bev whispering to Bill “Totally whipped” but he didn’t look much into it._

_Eddie blinked and turned a little pink at the ears. “I—it’s alright, I mean—“ Richie raised an eyebrow at him. Eddie sighed, took it from him and put it on, pouting. It draped off his shoulder a bit and Richie thought that was literally adorable, and Stan gave him a knowing look but he brushed it off, smiling._

Oh shit, this was Richie’s and he was wearing it.

Well, whatever. _His loss,_ he thought while his mother was still babbling on. He stole a look at the clock. _Oh shit._

“Whatever mom love you too bye,” he babbled as he raced out the front door to his school.

-

Unlike Eddie, who got a late pass to History at the office, Richie and Beverly were behind the bleachers, smoking and waiting out second, third and fourth because _why not?_

In the middle of third period they both got a text from Greta.

-

**hey there demons**

jojo siwa hair : ok bev & richie like where the FUCK are u two

jojo siwa hair : in 2nd per bev wasn’t in history

jojo siwa hair : in 3rd per richie isn’t next to me in math and I’m alone

its me ya boy : we’re skipping

b-b-bitch : what? I didn’t hear of this

bi-verly : yeah well we just arrived at school in the middle of 2nd per bcuz we woke late and our lazy asses didn’t want to get a late pass so we decided to skip 3rd & 4th while we got the chance

jojo siwa hair : wait wait wait. during 4th period I’ll skip with!!!!!

b-b-bitch : same

its me ya boy : pft. don’t u take 4th per wit stan?

b-b-bitch : yeah well he sits in the front jackass. andddddddd miss walker doesn’t allow us to switch seats

bi-verly : alright we’re behind the bleachers

b-b-bitch : which one?

bi-verly : 1st one.

-

When they heard the bell ring signalling that third period was over, Bill and Greta were nearing them. Bill came right up to Richie and asked, “Hey. Did you know t-that Eddie is w-wearing _your_ sweatshirt t-to school?”

Richie looked at him, bewildered. “ _What_?”

“Y’know, t-the one you gave t-to him t-that one day he w-was complaining it w-was cold?”

“What.”

“I can confirm, I had History with him.” Greta stated. “Aw, too bad you skipped morning classes.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “I don’t have any morning classes with him, dumbass.”

Bill reached in Richie’s pocket and took out his half-empty Marlboro pack, took two cigarettes and shoved it back in. Bev looked towards Greta. “Want a cig?”

Greta shook her head. “No…”

Beverly made a little _aha_ sound and said, “Oh, it’s either gum or a flavored toothpick, right?”

Greta nodded. Beverly reached in her pocket and threw some strawberry bubble-gum packets at her, which Greta catched and started chewing on.

They leaned against the walls of the bleachers in comfortable silence until Bill’s phone dinged. It was a text from Stan: _Where are you? Why aren’t you in Eng.? Where’s Richie? And Greta?_

Bill quickly responded with a quick _srry. we skippd class babe._

“ _Babe_? Already?” Beverly snorted.

“Shut up.” Bill responded.

After a few more smokes and little chit-chat, they heard the bell ring which was signal for _its lunch baby!_ (per Richie) and they snuck into the cafeteria.

They sat at their usual spot, and Eddie looked at Beverly sceptically. “Where were you?”

“Was skippin’, babes,” Bev replied, slamming her tray down on the table. “Well, we were late as fuck. Got here by third period. So we decided to skip.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Or you could’ve gotten a late pass like I did.”

“Meh.” Richie shrugged tiredly. Holy shit, he was more than tired. _Sleepy_ is the correct word. _I should’ve gotten more sleep last night…But holy shit, Eddie’s wearing my shirt._

And for most of lunch, Richie was staring at Eddie’s neck and the patch of skin on his shoulder that was seen due to how big the shirt was on him, and for most of lunch all Richie could think of was how much he wanted to bite his shoulder, mark him up on his pretty little neck— _since when have I been having these thoughts_?—and make him _his_. _Mine._

Richie didn’t even notice he buried his face in the back of Eddie’s neck until he heard a small, startled whimper erupt from the small boy. All the Losers heard, though, and for a moment the idle chatter coming from the group died down, and Richie was going to say “Sorry, didn’t get much sleep last night,” but all that came out was an almost-slurred “Sleepy” as he threw both his arms around Eddie’s waist as his head was buried in his neck, and his brain would’ve gone berserk if not only for the fact he was _so fucking tired._

The group returned to its normal tune of chit-chat, and Beverly, who was beside Eddie, treaded her hands in Richie’s hair as his head was buried in Eddie’s neck and his eyes were closed. “Didn’t get much sleep last night? I thought you turned off the minute you collapsed on my bed,” she whispered.

“Actually, I didn’t sleep until 2AM, Bevvie,” he said, lips pressed against Eddie’s neck as he did, and for a moment he felt the boy’s breathing hitch, but he didn’t look much into it because his brain was just a constant slur of _sleep…Eddie’s neck…so SOFT UGH._ Stan, who was sitting opposite of Eddie, noticed the boy’s flush face and mouthed _go get it, Kaspbrak_ with a smirk. Eddie flipped him off.

Before he knew it, he was waked up when the bell rang and when Eddie was trying to get his hands off his waist by gently slapping his face. “Come on, jackass, lunch is over.”

Richie groaned and just pressed his grip on Eddie’s waist a bit more firmly and made Eddie squeak in surprise, which Richie smirked at against his neck, but then Stan saw the flustered look on Eddie’s face as he was getting up from the table and decided to help his friend by tugging on Richie’s hair. “Come on, you guys got theatre later, get _up_ Rich.”

Stan’s tone was enough to get him up and going, and Eddie _instantly_ missed the warmth by his waist, but oh well. _It was good while it lasted._

The Losers went in pairs to fetch things from the lockers, and they met up in the hallway where the theatre and the gym were.

Richie was going to walk into the gym until Beverly pulled him aside. “We’ve got theatre, dumbass.”

Richie made a little _oh_ sound and turned around abruptly to the direction of the theatre, which gained him seven eye-rolls from his seven friends.

Mike groaned dramatically. “You lucky bitches, I think I should’ve signed up for theatre too, just to skip P.E.”

Stan pulled the taller boy inside as he was walking in, rolling his eyes. “You love P.E., though.”

Mike perked up. “Oh, yeah.”

Ben did a little wave to Beverly, and Beverly waved back. When they got into the theatre, Bev groaned.

“Oh come on, it’s not like you two won’t see each other for another ten years.” Greta remarked, pulling her by the arm.

“But I can’t stand it! I can’t stand not seeing him, even for an hour! I love him with all of my heart that it hurts!”

Greta was going to say something snide until they heard a female voice.

“Nice acting, Miss Marsh. Save it for the audition.” A brown-red haired, young woman whom they assumed to be Miss Winston raised an eyebrow before walking away to the front seats.

“Since when have you gotten so sappy?” Richie asked, turning to Bev.

“Ever since I started dating a romantic,” she replied.

“Ben’s a romantic?” Bill asked.

“Ben is _ever_ the romantic; he even makes those really sappy love poems about Bev and keeps them in a little box in his room.” Eddie stated, which made Bev turn a little pink.

“ _Anywho_ , doesn’t Miss Winston look familiar?” Richie asked.

Eddie shook his head. “Uh, no.” Bev pursed her lips. “Isn’t…your mom’s maiden name _Winston_?”

Richie narrowed his eyes. “Meh. Whatever,” and he started running towards the stage, and Greta, Bev and Bill, who were _very_ used to this and knew it as signal for _race you there,_ started running off, and Eddie, who was still processing this, realized and then shouted “ _Hey_ , you assholes! You could’ve told me you were gonna race!” And he started running as well.

Obviously, Richie was first, Bev was second, Bill and Greta were tied to third, and Eddie was last. He was normally fastest; except the other three had gotten at least ten feet of a head-start.

“Looks like w-we’re t-the first ones here,” Bill remarked, looking around.

“Let’s wait here,” Greta said, and then she sat down at the seat beside her in the very first row of seats.

Eddie sat between Richie and Bev, and only then did he take in what the auditorium looked like. There was a huge stage in front of them, with stage-lights that were currently on because of the darkness in the theatre. Red curtains lined the edges of the stage. There were two lines of seats, and each row in the line had eight seats. The front row was currently occupied by five, and Bill, being the only one who scanned the list stated that thirty-something other people were coming. And one by one, they did. The last person to come in was a short girl with light brown hair that went _just_ below her shoulders, and she seemed to attract Beverly’s attention.

The girl came up to the front row and she was searching for a place to sit, and since all forty-one chairs in the front were occupied, that would mean she would be the only person to sit at the back and it was clear to all forty-one students than she did _not_ want that.

Beverly whispered urgently in Eddie’s ear: “ _Sit on Richie’s lap.”_

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, bewildered. “ _What_?”

_“I said sit on Richie’s lap.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Just SIT. ON. HIS LAP.”_

So he stood up and sat on Richie’s lap, shuffling a bit to get a little comfortable and Richie let him. Richie was bewildered, of course, but he just went with it. Beverly moved over to where Eddie sat earlier, and when the girl saw they had made room for her, she beamed at Bev and sat between her and Bill. Meanwhile, Richie was _willing_ himself to NOT have a boner right then and there while the love of his life was on his lap, because that would _literally_ be the most awkward thing ever.

By that time, Miss Winston had come out from behind the curtains like a literal magician.

“Alrighty, class,” she said when everyone finally settled down. “I’ll be making you all recite a few lines and sing a Say No To This from Hamilton onstage with a partner," a groan sounded. "I know, I know, sorry to all those Hamilton fans. That will serve as the audition. You guys can decide who to partner with.”

Beverly decided to partner with the girl she just met and Bill with Greta. Richie grinned at Eddie, which he took as _let’s partner together, Eds._

During the audition, Bill and Greta weren’t as bad as Richie expected, Beverly and the girl, who was a senior girl named Alice, were _awesome._ Richie and Eddie weren’t as nice as Beverly and Alice’s, but according to Bev they were ‘literally incredible, were you born with this skill or what?’

At the end of the hour, Miss Winston was writing things on a little clipboard and said; “Alright, guys. Come back tomorrow at the same time. That good?”

There was a hum of agreement from the students.

“Alright. Come back tomorrow, everyone.” And then she dismissed them with a little clap of her hands.

As they shuffled out the theatre into the corridor, Beverly was chattering idly. “Do you think she’ll pluck one of us? I hope not. I mean, Greta and Bill weren’t that bad. They were awesome. I’m pretty sure Richie and Eddie’ll stay; they were like, _born_ with talent. How about me? How about Alice? Alice was amazing, pretty sure she’ll get main role, but how about me? What do you think, y’all?”

Bill rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine.”

Greta flicked her eyes over to her. “Pretty sure you’ll get second main role or whatever. Jeez. I don’t know how these things work.”

Bev beamed at her. “You really think so? Okay. I guess. I wasn’t that bad. Anyway, it really sucks that I’m going to go alone to English class, but anyways. Bye,” she waved them off before running away to her class.

Bill rolled his eyes, and waited just by the gym doors and waited for the crowd of students to clear out from bursting out the doors when a familiar short curly-haired boy came at the last of them. Knowing no one else except the Losers were looking, Bill grabbed Stan by the waist and pressed a gentle kiss onto the shorter boy’s slightly sweaty forehead. Stan smiled softly and shoved him away lightly, saying, “Gross, Bill! I literally just came from PE, I’m all sweaty and gross and sticky.”

Bill smirked and whispered something into his ear that made Stan visibly red. Greta gagged.

“Get a room!” Richie yelled. They both flipped him off and before Bill and Stan went to their Chemistry class Bill offered to wait while Stan took a shower in the shower rooms. Richie thought they were just gonna make out.

Mike came after Stan and Greta immediately went beside him, Ben following him. They had already gone to their classes, leaving Richie and Eddie in the halls.

“We better head to Bio,” Eddie said.

Richie grinned. “Whatever you say, your majesty.”

They walked in comfortable silence until Eddie spoke, “Our friends seem to be really whipped for each other.”

Richie snorted. “They’ve been in love for years, all of them. The longest was Bill; it’s been nine years since he’s been pining for that curly gay trash.”

“That’s a lot of pining.” Eddie raised an eyebrow.

Richie shrugged. “They only seemed to get their shit together after _you_ showed up. I don’t know. I’m kinda lucky that I haven’t been pining for those many years with the guy _I_ like.”

Eddie turned up to directly face the taller boy with a curious and playful glint in his eyes, and asked, “Who _do_ you like?” And Richie’s heart dropped way down to his knees. His breath hitched and his eyes widened, and Eddie seemed to notice this, observing him with his big, brown doe eyes. Richie opened his mouth to answer, but--

“Mister Tozier and Kaspbrak, you two have just made it. Come in, the class is about to start,” came the voice of their Biology teacher, Miss Williams. The two hadn’t even realized they had made it to the Biology class, but they went in and took their seats anyway. Richie thanked all the gods he knew (and Miss Williams) mentally as he sat and he let out a breath he didn’t really know he was holding. Eddie flicked his eyes towards Richie more times than once, nibbling and licking at a pen as their teacher babbled on and on about things no one really understood. Miss Williams left the room and claimed that she would come back soon, and as soon as she left the room was filled with noise. Richie snuck a look at Eddie and found that he was already staring at him. He noticed the pen in Eddie’s hand and the way he licked at it and—

“Wait. Is that my pen?”

Eddie flicked his eyes down to the pen he was chewing and said, “Oh. I guess so.”

Richie narrowed his eyes. “Did you steal that from me?”

Eddie turned on an innocent look almost immediately, and tilted his head to the side adorably. “Steal? Steal what? I didn’t steal anything.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really. You’re chewing and licking a pen that literally has _R.T._ written on it in Sharpie, and you claim you didn’t steal _anything_?”

Eddie smirked playfully. “If you really want it back, then _get_ it back.”

Richie grinned deviously. “Then I’ll do _just_ that. _Tickle attack!_ ” He yelled before his hands lunged right to Eddie’s sides. Eddie gasped, and when he realized what was going on he tried to pry the taller boy’s big hands from his waist. “ _Fuck—_ Ri- _chie!_ Sto—op! It’s not fucking— _oof, hah—funny!_ ” He yelled through breathy laughs.

“Surrender the pen or your life!” Richie laugh-yelled, and he poked his fingers a bit more into the boy’s sides, and he let out a loud, breathy gasp, but thankfully not loud enough so that the noise of the class drowned it out. As he did so, Eddie dropped the pen onto the desk, and Richie smirked. Richie released his grip on the boy’s waist and grabbed the pen. He examined it, and much to his delight, Eddie has left lots of bite marks on his pen and Richie has no idea why he’s pleasured about that. The smaller boy scowled at Richie’s success to steal his pen, or rather, _Richie’s_ pen that _he_ stole.

“Happy now?” Eddie raised an eyebrow, face visibly red.

“Not as happy as the day me and your mom—“

“ _Beep-beep, Richie!”_

-

**hey there demons**

its me ya boy : bill

its me ya boy : big bill

its me ya boy : billy boy

b-b-bitch : oh my FUCK what do you WANT

its me ya boy : can u like

its me ya boy : do my 6th per routine for me?

b-b-bitch : what.

its me ya boy : pls

b-b-bitch : UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHAKSUY78EEQASDFGHJKASDFGHgh

its me ya boy : wow how loving, best friend ever.

b-b-bitch : y?

its me ya boy : I wanna go to eddie’s locker to

its me ya boy : y’know

b-b-bitch : whats in it for me?

its me ya boy : REALLY?

b-b-bitch : yes, I’ll do it if somethings in it for me

its me ya boy : uhm

its me ya boy : u can…come wit me to stan’s locker tmrw to go flirt with the guy or Whatevs and I can leave u 2 to make out or whatever to do ur 1st per routine. but U have to walk stan 2 class

b-b-bitch : deal.

jojo siwa hair : u guys r SO whipped

-

Right after their Biology class, Richie followed Eddie out of the room. He looked at him, raising an eyebrow, and asked, “Why are you following me?”

Richie grinned and shrugged. “My next class has Bev in it, and since you two have your lockers next to each other, I’m followin’ you ‘cause I wanna walk with my Queen.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Alright, whatever.”

When they made it to Eddie’s locker, Bev was leaning on hers, as if waiting for Richie to arrive. “Took you long enough.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “You were waiting for me?” Bev nodded, and she tugged on Richie’s back pocket, where he usually kept his cigarette packs, and he knew that was signal for _let’s skip classes and smoke somewhere._ Eddie felt a little uneasy, since he saw this as a flirty action, but _oh,_ how little he knew. No _way_ was Bev or Richie interested in dating each other, after fourteen years of friendship and _counting_ , and since they saw each other as siblings. They had no romantic feelings for each other, though they _do_ have warm and platonic feelings for each other. They felt _so_ comfortable around each other; they even willingly change in the same room without any discomfort around each other, and Richie doesn’t even feel that same comfort around his own _sister_ , which Rhianna absolutely detests, _‘come on Rich why do you even let Bev see Richie Jr. she isn’t even technically related to you, I don’t mind seeing Richie Jr. too why don’t you let me change in the same room as you, I’m literally your sister’_. Beverly absolutely detests the term Richie Jr.

“Seeya, Eds,” Richie waved off and he blew him a kiss, and Eddie rolled his eyes at this, but secretly inside he was _soaring._

Richie and Beverly immediately ran away to where Eddie thought was the Chemistry class, but little did he know, they slipped past the school’s back exit and sat at the same place they were skipping at earlier, and they started smoking like they usually did.

They both knew smoking was bad and did shit to your lungs, they weren’t stupid, but they never really made an attempt to stop, since they just _couldn’t_. They didn’t exactly care.

They first started smoking at eleven, _yes,_ eleven, when not-so-little Richie Tozier discovered _cigarettes_.

_“Holy shit, Bev, look what I found,” Eleven-year old Richie said, climbing in through eleven-year old Beverly’s window. It was 11:54 PM._

_“Shut up, dumbass, my dad might hear you,” Beverly whispered urgently, getting out of her bed after pretending to be asleep for her father’s benefit. “You know what he’s like when I hang around boys.”_

_Richie dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “Fuck that. Look what my mom left on the kitchen counter!” He said in a sing-song voice._

_Beverly gaped. “Holy fuck—wait, you actually managed to—wow. Okay.”_

_In Richie’s hands was a pack of cigarettes, brand Fortune, that he stole off the kitchen counter before sneaking off to Bev’s to try it._

_“Okay. So how do we do this?” Richie asked excitedly, letting Bev snatch it from his hands and rip it open. “Why’re you so excited? It’s just…smoking.” Beverly raised an eyebrow, taking out a stick and handing it to Richie before taking one of her own._

_Richie shrugged. “I just am.”_

_“I think it’s just…inhaling and blowing it out or something like that.” Beverly answered his earlier question. “You DID bring a lighter, right?”_

_Richie scoffed. “Duh, I brought a lighter.” He reached into his pocket and threw it at her._

_Beverly went first, lighting her cigarette and bringing it to her lips slowly. A minute later she took it away shakily, closing her eyes as she exhaled the smoke. Richie was watching her in comfortable silence; until he broke it with a very unceremonious “You look like you’re having an orgasm.”_

_Beverly scowled. “Yuck, you’re fuckin’ disgusting, dude.” Richie put a hand to his heart, feigning a hurt expression. “Yikes, deadshot! You wound me!”_

_Beverly snorted. “Shut up. Alright. Your turn.”_

_Richie lighted his cigarette and held it up. “So…it’s just like, sucking and blowing, right?”_

_“No, Rich, you don’t—“ Richie now had a coughing fit, clearly not knowing how to smoke on a cigarette. Beverly’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, you idiot, you’re gonna wake my dad!”_

_The two listened for a moment for any footsteps coming near Bev’s room, but they heard nothing._

_“I clearly did not.”_

_“Shut the fuck up.”_

Richie exhaled some smoke, and then suddenly snickered. “Remember the first time we started smoking? You had a coughing fit and almost woke your dad.”

Beverly scoffed. “I clearly remember _you_ having a coughing fit.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “I did _not_.”

“Whatever,” Beverly snorted, “We better get back to class at seventh period. Bill would fucking lose it if we skipped class without him.”

“Aight.”

-

The bell rang, signalling that the students may now go to their next class. Bev and Richie sneaked in and quickly blended in with the other students, heading to their Photography class.

They took the desk at the row second to last, where they usually sat, and then in came Bill, who sat next to them. Richie eyed Bill, whose hair was damp. Richie snorted. 

"I didn't know you had to shower with Stan too."

Bill immediately flushed and instinctively ran his fingers through his hair.

“Did you show Stan why you’re called Big Bill in the shower rooms, or—“

“Beep-beep, Richie.”

Richie might’ve gotten whiplash by how fast he turned his head to the direction behind him, and sure enough, there was ~~his~~ Eddie sitting right behind him and next to two other kids, one of them probably Sean Hudson and—oh shit, Vic Criss, and Richie grinned. “Eds! You have this class?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, ever since I transferred here, dumbass. You really didn’t notice?”

Richie shook his head. “Always slept in this class. Dunno why I chose this as one of my electives. Probably because Bill and Bev were going to do this.”

Eddie pursed his lips. “You’re a dumbass.”

Richie grinned. “You know you love me.” 

Eddie flushed and rolled his eyes. He made no further comment.

-

After Photography, Richie walked Bev and Eddie to their lockers, having to go with Eddie in his next class.

“Okay, don’t tell Ben, but I have a low-key crush on Alice.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at the taller girl. “I’m telling Ben.”

Beverly pretended to cry, pulling at the shorter boy’s arms. “ _Eeeeeeedddddiiiiieeeeeeeee! Have mercy on meeeeeeeeeeeeee!”_ Eddie scoffed.

“You’re allowed to have crushes, as long as you stay committed to your boyfriend or girlfriend, right?” Bev asked.

“Uhm, I don’t think that’s how it works. You could end up like Lucy.” Richie stated sheepishly.

Bev frowned. “But… I actually _love_ Ben, so I _can’t_ end up like Lucy.”

Eddie blinked. “Who’s… _Lucy_?”

Beverly scoffed. “Some _girl_ who _had_ an _amazing_ boyfriend but was _fucking_ other guys _behind_ Richie’s back,” she stated, emphasizing words unnecessarily.

“Oh… Sorry I asked.”

“Anyway! It’s just a low-key crush on some senior girl who’s probably totally straight, what are the chances? I mean, Nick Eisner is _still_ low-key crushing on Alice Spier even though he’s dating Abby, _so_.” Beverly stated, shrugging.

“So, wait. You aren’t just… _girlcrushing_ on Alice?” Eddie asked, crinkling his nose as he raised an eyebrow. Richie’s brain was immediately flooded with _cute cute cute._

Beverly blinked. “Uh, yeah. _Duh_. I’m bi. Wasn’t that obvious from the day you met me?”

Eddie was bewildered. “H— _Huh_?”

“Me, Richie, Greta and Bill were like, the only openly bi students here, besides Audra Phillips and Patty Blum, and you didn’t catch on to that?” Beverly asked. Eddie glanced at Richie, and Richie shrugged when he saw his eyes on him.

“O-oh…” Eddie muttered. Beverly snorted. “You think extremely hetero.”

“I’m—I’m not hetero.”

“Then what?”

“I—you guys won’t judge?”

Richie scoffed. “We just told you our not-exactly secrets, we won’t _judge_.”

Eddie couldn’t believe he was having this conversation in the school hallways. Then again, he told his best friends in the cafeteria where anyone could overhear, and that was that.

“I—I’m into boys. Only.” Eddie felt his face burn up. Richie’s face was already visibly red, but Eddie was extremely oblivious and Richie thought Eddie was just blushing because of admitting, so _that_ was a win-win.

“You know there’s a word for that, right, Eddie?” Beverly raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but I’m not hetero, so that’s that.”

“Yeah, but I said you _think_ extremely hetero. I didn’t _say_ you were hetero.” Beverly smirked.

Eddie flushed. “Whatever, Marsh.”

 _Aight,_ Richie thought. _So. Eddie’s gay, so, maybe I got a chance._

_Maybe._

_Who knows._

By the time they made it to their lockers, Beverly has dashed off to her Lit class, which for her is basically Naptime Room, because Miss Wren doesn’t exactly mind if people sleep in her class as long as they don’t snore, and since she has Lit with Bill, he is delighted to have someone to draw dicks on.

So when Richie and Eddie arrive to Arts, they basically ~~flirt~~ bicker and argue about pointless things while drawing, Ben rolls his eyes at them, Mike and Greta are flirting again, Stan is wondering about what Bill is doing and is rubbing his fingers gently above the hidden hickey Bill gave him earlier, and Bill is drawing dicks on Beverly _once again._

Just another day with The Losers Club.

-

“What the fuck are you doing?” Came a voice from beside Bill. He turned to the voice, and it was Audra Phillips, an openly bisexual junior.

“W-What do you t-think I’m doing?”

“You look like you’re trying to kill yourself. You do know Bev is going to kill you when she wakes up, right?”

Bill shrugged. “So w-what?”

Audra rolled her eyes. “I tried to warn you, Denbrough.”

-

The bell rang, and the school day was over. Students were shuffling out of Literature class until--

 _“WILLIAM DENBROUGH WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.”_ Came the voice of a girl, and seconds later screaming followed.

Audra sighed.

-

Bill was, once again, left behind Richie, Eddie and Beverly.

“Aw, c’mon, Bev! I’m _sorry_!”

Bev rolled her eyes. “You’re obviously not.”

Bill covered his mouth to keep from laughing. “I am.”

“I’m sorry, Big Billy, but punishment of dick drawers are to be left at the back of the pack.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “And w-what voice is t- _that_ supposed to be?”

Richie shrugged.

Bill walked in front of Bev, with his hands clasped together as if he was praying, and he was making puppy eyes at the girl. Bev forced herself to look away. Bill pretended to cry.

“ _Beeee-heeeeev! Pwetty Pweaaaaaaaase?”_

Bev pulled him alongside her and scoffed. “ _Fine!_ Dickhead.”

Bill did a _whoop_ and hugged her. She rolled her eyes.

“Has Bill always been drawing dicks on Bev?” Eddie asked Richie.

Richie grinned. “At the last period of the day, whoever he has classes with he _will_ draw dicks on. I had bad luck sophomore year and, I had eighth period Math with him. I got the nickname Richie Dickie for the rest of sophomore year _no_ -thanks to Bill.” Bill snickered.

Beverly continued with, “and freshman year, Greta had Bio with him in eighth per, and you should’ve seen her face when she realized Bill drew a dick on her forehead.”

Eddie grimaced. “I _will_ the school authorities not to put me in an eighth period class with Bill next year.”

Bill laughed. “I w-will t-the school authorities t-to put me in an eighth period class w-with all t-the Losers senior year.”

“Bill, the turn is here, you idiot,” Beverly shouted, and the cross in roads where the four parted was in front of them. Richie did a salute to Bill and Bev before walking off in the opposite direction of them with Eddie.

“Aight,” Richie said when they finally reached Eddie’s house, “We have reached our destination, your majesty!” He said a little too loudly, and Eddie rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

His mom wasn’t looking through the blinds this time, so Eddie was feeling a little brave. He turned around, to see Richie already staring at him. Richie was following his dancing eyes, before grinning at Eddie and turning around, saying, “Bye, Eds! Have a good night—“ before being pulled by the sleeve of his Hawaiian t-shirt. Eddie was pouting, and Richie raised an eyebrow.

_Okay, maybe I’m feeling brave, but I can’t believe I’m doing this._

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Eddie asked, pointing to his cheek. Richie gave him a confused look.

“Don’t I get a goodbye kiss, ‘Chee?” Eddie said, voice hesitant and barely above a whisper, but Richie heard him clearly. His eyes widened, and Eddie was starting to regret what he did, until Richie leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss onto Eddie’s cheek, and leaning farther in to whisper in his ear “I’ll see you tomorrow? Yeah?” And when he pulled away, he saw Eddie nod frantically, face red. Richie grinned and took off, saying his usual “Bye, Eds! Have a good night!”

“Don’t—don’t c-call me that!”

-

Richie was panicking once again (gay panic), so he was on his way to Bev’s, but along the way he found that his parents were waiting for him outside, which was a rare thing that they only did when they had to speak about something important.

“What’s up?” He asked, coming onto the porch.

“Come in,” Maggie told him, “Bevvie’s in here. We need to talk,” she said with a smile.

Richie shrugged _okay,_ got in and dropped his backpack, sitting next to Bev, who was on the table.

“So, like, what?” Richie asked his parents who were sitting opposite them.

“Rich, you see Bev as your other sister, right?” Went asked him, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“I mean, yeah, me and Rhianna grew up with her, so she’s practically our sister.”

“And Bevvie, you love us like we’re your parents, right?” Maggie asked Beverly.

“Yeah, you two were like, the only actual parental figures in my life,” Bev replied.

Went gulped and said quietly, “Okay, so don’t freak out, but we’re adopting Beverly as a Tozier legally.”

Richie and Bev’s eyes widened, and then they looked to each other, back to Maggie and Went, and back to each other, and they stood up on their chairs and high-fived each other, yelling “ _Fuck yeah!_ ” At the top of their lungs. Maggie rolled her eyes. “You two better thank me, I had the idea.”

“Yeah, while you were drunk,” Went stated.

“Okay, but what about Bev’s house? Where is she going to stay if you adopt her?” Richie asked.

Maggie shrugged. “It can be kind of like…our eldest child going to live on their own but they always keep visiting.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “But me and Bev are the same age!”

Beverly grinned. “I’m older than you by a month.”

“ _So_?”

Beverly shook her head and smiled at Maggie and Went. “Holy fuck, I did not expect to have such good luck. I don’t know how you can handle three kids’ bullshit.”

Maggie smiled. “I had to handle my siblings’ bullshit, and there were like, eight of them, so you, Rich and Rhi are easy.”

Beverly gave them a teary smile. “Well, thanks for putting up with my bullshit. Even when mom was still alive, I saw you and Went as my second parents.”

Went smiled back. “We always saw you as our other daughter.”

Richie gagged. “You guys are getting sappy, y’know that?”

Maggie punched him on the shoulder playfully. “Whatever, you giant Loser.”

“Hold up, I’m your son. That makes this family a giant Loser family.”

Bev rolled her eyes. “Rhi is missing out on the fun, when’s she getting out for the hols? She’s like, fifteen, why doesn’t she go to our school?”

Went shrugged. “She wanted to try out all-girls boarding school, said Derry kids suck.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

“She’s getting out for the hols in late November,” Maggie stated.

“We should celebrate when she gets back!” Bev said, now pulling out her phone and pulling on Facetime.

Richie snorted. “Pft, yeah, and since her birthday’s coming up, I’d buy a strap-on for her and her girlfriend.” Maggie gagged at this statement.

“Hey, jackass, I heard that! And Edith is _not_ my girlfriend! Yet!” Came a familiar voice from Beverly’s phone. Richie leaned in and saw his sister’s face on the screen. He grinned and shrugged.

“Don’t worry, Rhi, Richie’s got a potential future boyfriend at hand,” Bev smirked. Maggie looked between Richie’s red face and Beverly’s teasing one with an amused look.

“Bev, Eddie is _not_ my boyfriend! Yet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know shit about smoking or how plays and adopting work so forgive me I tried
> 
> bitch u thought!!!! cuz of the chapter name ;)
> 
> or maybe u didn’t… anyway :’)
> 
> honestly I love bev & richie’s friendship and I make them besties in literally every fanfic,, and in this I just make them kinda like siblings?? because I love them asdfghj! and fun facts,, rich and bev knew each other ever since they were 3 bcoz her mom and mags were besties too,, kinda,,
> 
> ff#2 rich has been sneaking into bev’s room on the 2nd floor ever since he was 7
> 
> ff#3 bev’s mom died of a sickness,, when she was 8. :( and bev killed her dad IN SELF DEFENSE OK when she was 12?? around 12?? yeppy. sad.
> 
> so,, this chapter was mostly just about bev and richie’s friendship?? but I promise more reddie soonnnn I swear
> 
> peace out✌✌ 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Toziers have a chat with their youngest over video chat, the Losers get to know who got listed as who in theatre and Beverly invites them all to a party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS SHIT >> URGENT!  
> (not rlly idfk) I UPDATED SHIT FROM THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS AND I’M SURE Y’ALL DON’T WANNA REREAD THAT SHIT BUT. I just rewatched Heathers and suddenly remembered how managing a play/musical works so ye
> 
> I wasn’t really into theatre last three years of HS I was more into sports and shit and I wanted to try it in my senior year but guess what? COVID-19 :( nvm I’ll try it in UNI sdjdjdd
> 
> so VAGUE SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENS IN LAST CHAPTERS THAT I UPDATED: There are forty-two (42) people who signed up for theatre and Miss Winston isn’t gonna have anyone ‘plucked’ and they don’t do romeo and Juliet for auditions they do Hamilton – Burn or either Dear Evan Hansen – Sincerely Me AND there’s actually different departments, like props or costumes or lighting y’all get the drill? ok? ok.
> 
> enjoy,, or not idfk

“Boyfriend, huh?” Rhianna licked her lips onscreen before continuing with, “Who’s the poor guy?”

Beverly chuckled. “Basically a male version of Edith.”

“Oh, well then, Richie, you’ve got good taste.”

“What was that? Did I just hear RhiRhi admit she likes Dear Edith Rogan?” Richie teased, cupping his ears with his hands.

Richie’s sister narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m hanging up.”

“Wait, no!” Maggie put her hands in front of Beverly’s phone, shoving the two teens aside. “Rhi, how are you holding on? How is it at Benenden?” Maggie smiled nervously.

Rhianna visibly shrugged. “They don’t call us freshmen, they call us third formers. It’s a little prim and proper here—but it’s all good fun, because the girls here are super, and we hold things like midnight feasts in the dorms and games in the common-room.”

Beverly grimaced. “You sound English now.”

“I got sent to an English school, what’d ya expect?” She replied, obviously trying to change the way she spoke.

Went pushed aside the three and asked, “Do you like it there?”

Rhianna shrugged. “I do, I mean, I made a few friends, bullies don’t exist here, everything’s fine, but I kinda miss brewing up trouble with my friends in Derry. Derry kids are shit, sure, but I miss Rich and Bevvie. Plus, I wanna see their boyfriends.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “You just want to see Edith again.”

Rhi turned red and flipped her brother off, before replying to her parents with, “I—I think it would be safe to say I’d like my second freshman term to be at Derry High.” She smiled.

Maggie smiled. “Alright, dear. I thought the same when I was sent there, so I asked your Nana Diana the same thing. Completely understandable, babes.”

A voice onscreen interrupted the family. “Golly, Rhi! Hide that thing you’re holding before one of the mistresses come in! Miss Potts would go completely mad if she found out you brought a ‘phone’ here.”

“Anyways—I gotta go, we gotta get prepared for supper, bye!” With that came a beep and the familiar freckled face on the screen disappeared. Maggie sighed and sank into her chair. Went looked at her and sighed as well. He looked over to the two teens opposite them.

“So, who wants pasta primavera for dinner?”

-

Eddie got up right before his alarm sounded, happier than usual. He jumped out of bed, stretching and yawning loudly, before reaching for his phone and turning his 6:40 AM alarm off early. After that, he picked out some clothes, ran into the bathroom, and came out wearing a pastel pink letterman jacket over 5 Seconds of Summer merch t-shirt, tucked into ripped shorts. _Oh my GOD, all I ever wear are shorts. Well, all Richie ever wears are black ripped jeans. Stop thinking about Richie. Jeez._

He picked up his phone and his backpack, running out the door.

-

**hey there demons**

its me ya boy : bill

b-b-bitch : WHAT

its me ya boy : I’m doing ur 1st per routine right

b-b-bitch : ye?

its me ya boy : I just realized u can do mine too while I get yours cuz ur over at my locker :D

b-b-bitch : u g h

jojo siwa hair : y’all could at least talk to each other about this in PM???

its me ya boy : ‘y’all’

its me ya boy : u startin to sound like mike

its me ya boy : and mike startin to sound like u

its me ya boy : 🤔

jojo siwa hair : no

-

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Richie groaned. “Now I can’t see Eddie todayyyy.”

Beverly rolled her eyes. “You ask Bill to do it all the time for you; now it’s your turn to do it. Besides, you get to see Eddie _everyday._ You’ll probably see him, like, after your History class ‘cause he has it next.”

Richie pouted and crossed his arms at her. “But I wanna see him now.”

Beverly pressed her lips in a thin line and averted her eyes, a gesture which Richie picked up the means of a few years ago as _I’m just gonna ignore your stupidity and annoyingness right now._

Richie pouted. “What? I get to listen to your groaning every class you don’t have Ben in and you just ignore me when I do it? _What is this_?”

Beverly was about to reply—something snide, he guesses—but was interrupted with Bill jumping the two in the middle of the street.

“Hey, demons,” he shouted. “W-what’s up?”

“The sky,” Bev snorted. “Lover boy over here was just groaning about not getting to see Eddie this morning because of a deal he made with you.”

Bill smiled reassuringly at Richie before clapping him on the back. “It w-was you who made t-the deal, bud, you could’ve just told me you’d buy me a large KitKat and I would’ve agreed.”

Richie glared at him. “You aren’t helping, Bill.”

Bill laughed. “Just like in Finding Dory.”

There was this time from when the gang were twelve and they had Movie Night at the Denbrough’s. They were watching Finding Dory, and after that the rest of the Losers went home, but Bill repeated the movie right after they left. Then he started playing it on repeat straight until it got to the point that he recognized every single line anyone (or fish) made. He was obsessed with it, and would always quote Finding Dory quotes to the Losers. His obsession with the movie subsided in seventh grade and Richie’d tease him for it.

“You quoting Finding Dory, Bill?” Richie raised an eyebrow down at him. Bill laughed.

“No, I’m not. I w-wasn’t.”

“Hmm.” Richie said, and when they made it to Derry High, Richie slouched and visibly pouted as he walked in the hallway where Bill’s locker was. Bev and Bill giggled together when they saw the tallest guy in the school _slouch_ , when Greta jumped the two of them after.

-

“Hey,” Mike raised an eyebrow, “This isn’t your locker.”

Richie raised an eyebrow back at him, holding the locker door open. The four friends already knew everyone’s locker codes, so it’s easier for them to ~~steal each other’s things~~ get each other’s things for each other. “I’m doing Bill’s first period routine.”

Mike nodded and made an ‘oh’ sound, leaning on his locker after getting his Chemistry essentials.

Richie rummaged through the locker for a while, since Bill’s was so messy and he could _not_ find his Geometry textbook, until Mike asked, “What’s Greta think of me?”

Richie snorted, and Mike frowned. “She thinks the world of you, man. Second to me, of course.” Mike rolled his eyes.

“I’m serious, dude.”

“Well so am I,” Richie replied snidely, but then spoke a bit more softly, “Not my place to tell you this, bro, but she likes you, like, ever since middle school. First time she saw you, she ran into the nearest janitor’s closet and proceeded to scream into a Jojo Siwa handkerchief Bev made for her.” 

Mike snorted. “You’re shitting me, my guy.”

“Not in the slightest.” And there was this glint in Richie’s eyes that told Mike that he wasn’t messing around with him.

Mike nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

They sat in silence until Richie finally found Bill’s Geometry textbook.

“Fuck yeah! Bill _never_ just cleans up his goddamn locker. It’s worse than Bev’s.”

Mike chuckled. “He just throws the fuckin’ shit in there.”

Richie shook his head and turned around abruptly to run to the Geometry class, and Mike leaned his head against his locker, sighing.

Stan sighed, getting out his History textbook from his locker. There was currently no one in the hallways since they all headed to class, or so he thought. When he turned around, he ran into a brick wall. Only it was a soft brick wall. And when he looked up, the brick wall was Bill himself.

Bill smiled as he looked down at him. “Sorry I’m late.”

Stan smiled back and raised an eyebrow, stating, “You weren’t _late_. No one invited you.”

“Ow!” Bill said, holding a hand over his chest. Stan rolled his eyes.

“Why’re you here? What’d you do with Richie?”

Bill smirked. “Calm down, he’s getting my stuff for me.”

Stan smiled, leaned closer and whispered, “I might calm down if you kiss me.”

And knowing no one else was there with them, they did.

-

“So, all I’m saying is that you should totally follow Addison Rae on TikTok,” Greta gushed to Mike and Ben, food stuffed in her mouth. “Like, she’s so—“

Beverly gasped right as Richie and Bill sat down at their usual table, slamming their lunch trays down on it.

“Shut up _just for a minute,_ Greta!” She shouted, and Greta looked at her bewilderedly. Beverly grinned and slammed her hands down on the table. “I just got invited to another party! Like, its tomorrow night at ten pm, and technically I got invited but I’m inviting y’all along. No disagreeing.”

Richie scowled at her, “why are _you_ the one who’s _always_ invited to parties?”

Beverly rolled her eyes. “I was invited by Derek Wesley, okay?”

Ben’s head almost immediately swiped into their direction that Richie thought he almost got whiplash. “Who’s Derek?”

“Just some creep w-who always hits on Bev in her Arts and English classes. He just never gives up, t-the stubborn bitch,” Bill answered snidely.

Bev groaned. “No matter what I fucking tell him, like, _I’ve got a boyfriend_ , Derek, or, _I don’t like you_ , Derek, or _I’ve got a fucking mom and dad who can beat the shit out of you if you touch me there again_ , Derek.”

Greta looked up at her, face etched in worry. “You told him you got parents?”

Bev smiled. “Oh, by the way, here’s another piece of good news; I’m gonna be Richie’s legal sister, thanks to Mags and Went.” She winked.

The rest of the group yelled, gasped or either hollered. The other students glared at them, but they didn’t notice or care.

“WHAT.”

“Hey, t-they told me about this first.”

“I knew at some point it would happen.”

“YOU GUYS TOLD BILL FIRST?! _WHY_?”

Richie grinned at their responses, sipping from his milk carton, but his eyes gave away that he was eagerly waiting for Eddie’s.

Eddie blinked and looked down to his lap sheepishly. “I…I kind of thought you and Bev had a… _flirty_ aura around each other. Guess I was wrong.”

Richie almost spit out his milk in Bill’s face. “ _Flirty_? Eds, what—“

Beverly guffawed obnoxiously. “What the _fuck_? Eddie, _babes_ , I’ve basically been living with Richie and his family for, like, _forever_. I wouldn’t see him as anything else than my brother.”

Eddie flushed. “I was just—I thought—I—You guys were just so—“ Eddie couldn’t seem to find the words. Bill and Stan started laughing from across the table.

Richie snorted. “I faintly remember you getting _jealous_ and asking me if Bev was my girlfriend the first time you met her.”

Bev gasped, “girlfriend—“ and she started wheezing from how much she was laughing. She clutched her stomach and almost fell over if she had not grabbed Richie’s shoulder. Eddie turned redder and redder by the second. Students were, once again, glaring at their table.

“I was not _jealous_!” He almost screamed. “I was just—just—just _curious_.”

“Mhm. I was there, you know.”

Eddie scoffed. He pouted and crossed his arms, refusing to look at Richie. Richie shook his head and chuckled.

“ANYWAYS, party tomorrow night at Derek’s, ten PM, pre-shots at Bill’s.” Beverly summed out, interrupting the two.

Everyone agreed on coming and they continued on with their lunch.

_“—as I was saying, Ben, I, like, made you your TikTok account, right? So you like, should totally search up Addison Rae and, like…”_

-

The theatre Losers parted with the others who went back to their classes, and they all raced each other to the auditorium.

“You fucking assholes should warn us when you start a race,” Eddie whisper-shouted, panting.

Greta shrugged and grinned. “We just don’t. You just need time to adjust to our ways.”

One by one, the other students came in and took their previous seats, which means Eddie had to sit on Richie’s lap again just so Beverly could sit to her ‘ _low_ - _key’_ senior girl crush, Alice.

“Alright, alright,” Miss Winston said, clapping her hands to ease the chatter going on between the students. “I presume everyone is here? Yeah?” The students let out choruses of ‘yeah’ and ‘yes’s. “Alright. Well, I suppose you’re all wondering what freakin’ play we’re doing this year.” The students laughed politely, though her joke wasn’t really that funny.

Miss Winston grinned at the clipboard she was holding and looked back to the students. “Alright. Uhm, it’s—and by the way, I asked permission from the head but she didn’t really care, so—Heathers.” A loud cheer went out and Miss Winston paused and let them celebrate for a few minutes.

“So rehearsal is going to be every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday after seventh period, meaning that you’ll be skipping your eighth period classes, I know, it sucks, but school’s rules, guys.” No one minded.

“Everyone here is absolutely amazing at acting, so it’s rather just a matter of picking people who look the part. I’m sorry. No offense.

“As for the others who aren’t appearing onstage as actors, don’t worry! You can work on other things, like on the costumes or props, or maybe even co-produce with me! I’ll be handing out lists of who’ll be who in the play—should I say musical?—and the rest can pick if they should be one of the stage crew or as extra actors. Or both. Your choice. But _I’ll_ be picking co-producer. Now, can I have someone help me hand out the lists?”

Alice, and a freshman, Edith Rogan, raised their hands. Miss Winston nodded at them and they set to work, handing out the lists.

Bill chuckled, and turned to Richie. “I’m the one of the fucking cops in Me Inside of Me. The one who says; ‘I’m not just a source of handjobs.’ Gosh,” Richie laughed loudly.

Beverly and Greta were silently screaming when they read their parts, and the other people sitting in their row looked at the two bewilderedly until they read the list.

Beverly was shaking Richie, resulting Eddie to get shook as well, as he was on his lap. She was grinning, ear to ear, and squealed, “Holy fuck, man, I’m Chandler! Heather _motherfucking_ Chandler!”

Richie sat with his eyebrows furrowed until it hit him. “Holy shit.” They both shared admiration for the mean girl H. Chandler. “And what about Greta? What’s up with her? She sounds like a balloon deflating with the way she’s squealing over there.”

“Shut up! And I’m McNamara, bitch!” She shouted over Bill and Beverly.

Richie grinned. It was a well-known fact over the four of them that Greta loved H. McNamara. “Well, good for you!”

Eddie, who was silent up until now, had to turn in Richie’s lap to face the others and said excitedly, “I’m co-producing with Miss Winston! I’m fucking managing half of the play!”

Alice had now sat down and grinned upon hearing this. “Maybe it’s because she saw you all anxious and jumpy during the auditions, always organizing your stack of papers every minute, always flitting your eyes around on the people auditioning and taking notes of the things she was entertained by, so she knew you’d make a good co-manager!”

Eddie flushed a little when spoken to by the senior girl, but beamed.

Miss Winston then called over the rest and had a conversation with the ones who weren’t in the list. When she dismissed them, Richie went over to them and grinned.

“I’m manager of the fuckin’ music department, baby!” He shouted and everyone beamed at him.

-

Its eighth period, and Audra has once again failed from trying to convince Bill to not draw a dick on Beverly.

“Shut up, Phillips,” he responded to her actions.

She rolled her eyes, “I warned you. Why do you even like doing this anyway?”

Bill shrugged. “Her reaction is priceless.”

They spent most of the class arguing about whether or not to draw on Beverly, and it’s almost the end of the class when Bill took out a red Sharpie pen.

Bill could hardly stifle his laughter as the pen tip drifted above Beverly’s arm, but before he could write Beverly caught his arm in a vice-like grip.

She grinned with no humour, and sent a glare in Bill’s way that sent chills down his spine.

“I’m gonna bust your knee caps, Denbrough,” she said in a scary tone.

Not accepting his fate, he raised an eyebrow and said, “W-what are you, _Pomplamoose_?”

Just as the bell rang, a scream echoed throughout the school hallways.

Audra sighed.

-

Bill was left at the back again. He sighed.

“Your fault, man, accept it,” Richie yelled.

Bill sighed loudly, and when no one acknowledged him, he sighed louder.

“Oh my God, shut _up_ ,” Beverly groaned.

“I’m suh-sorry, I can’t help it,” Bill responded, crossing his arms and pulling off the Long Face. After a long beat of silence, Bill sighed again and Beverly shouted in frustration. “Fine!” she said as she pulled him to the front roughly.

Richie snorted. “Hey! I’m the victim here! No idea wuh-why you’re angry at me, you’re tuh-the one who practically broke my arm,” he said, pulling his right sleeve upward to show the rest of the group, and there was a bright pink mark around his wrist from where Beverly held him and a bruise beginning to form just above his elbow from where Beverly smacked him.

Eddie grimaced and Richie scoffed. “Hate to admit, that _does_ look bad, but you’re the one who’s at fault anyway, we all know what the wrath of Beverly is like. That’s why I tend to make sure I don’t get on her bad side.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “Anyway, most of t-the only good kids in Derry always end up to be in theatre. Don’t cha think?”

Beverly shrugged. “ _Most._ ”

They remained their idle chatter until they reached the cross in the roads where the four usually parted. Bill did a farewell salute and Eddie flipped them off.

As the two teens walked down Eddie’s road, they sat in silence for reasons unbeknownst to the boys. But the silence wasn’t exactly awkward—it was more of a comfortable silence that was usually shared between two lovers. But they weren’t lovers. Richie came to this realization a few seconds prior and decided to break the silence to derail that train of thought from his head. He should probably say something cool and witty to create a friendly—and not _love-struck—_ atmosphere between them.

Probably not: “Are you coming? To the party, I mean,” he blurted out, fidgeting around with his fingers.

Eddie looked up at him with wide eyes and smiled. “Bev said we couldn’t say no, so of course I’m going.”

Richie grinned and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his two fingers. “I know, but do you _actually_ wanna go?”

“Of course I do. The Losers are gonna be there. You’re gonna be there.” He said the last sentence with a softer tone, averting his eyes from the taller boy.

Richie licked his lips. “Okay. Aight,” he said with a lot of wild, unnecessary nodding, which lead to Eddie giggling.

It then returned to silence. Except this silence was awkward since the two were searching for topics to talk about to fill in the silence. All because Richie started talking. _Aight_.

So when he thought of something, Richie did not bother to vibe check what it was before spitting out the first thing he thought of: “Where do you want the next one today?” Eddie gave him a Look, and sensing his confusion, Richie added, “the kiss.”

The moment Eddie flushed red was the moment Richie knew he shouldn’t have said that. “Uhm—we don’t have to, I understand you just wanted to try out, yesterday, like how and what it felt like, I get tha—“

“My forehead.”

Richie’s eyes widened. He coughed and then grinned, “okay then. If that’s what His Royal Highness wants.”

“Shut _up_.”

Richie snorted, stepping on the too-familiar porch, before realizing they were already at the Kaspbrak’s. “Oh—uh, we have arrived at our destination, my dear prince!” He used his ‘British Guy’ voice.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Do you prefer being called a princess, then?” He grinned.

Eddie turned around and smacked him upside the head lightly. “No.”

Richie’s grin grew wider as he caught Eddie’s hand before it returned to him, and pulled him closer with it. Richie’s free hand reached up to cup Eddie’s face and caressed it for a while with his thumb, staring longingly at his lips, and Eddie thought he was gonna _literally_ kiss him on the lips, before pressing a gentle but sloppy kiss on the shorter boy’s forehead. Richie’s grin returned to his face and he stepped off of the porch quickly, yelling, “Bye, Eds! Have a good night! G’even!”

Eddie smiled goofily. “Don’t call me that, asshole!”

-

_July 17, Friday, 4:20 AM_

**so like stan’s bday in 2 days**

_mikenike added 02659493023 to the group chat._

02659493023 : I’m sorry. Who are you?

mikenike : ur bestfriend dood lol

02659493023 : Ben? Is that you?

mikenike : nop

02659493023 : Oh, so you must be Eddie.

mikenike : guess again

02659493023 : Sorry. I don’t know who else you could be.

mikenike : ow

mikenike : :-(

02659493023 : I’m just kidding, Mike. But don’t ever put a ‘-‘ with that emote or I will personally find a pack of dogs to feed you to.

mikenike : lmao ok

b-b-billy : michael hanlon what the FUCK it’s 4 am

mikenike : exactly, 420 blaze it

richie bitchie : LMAOOOO THATS THE SPIRIT MAAANN

mikenike : virtual highfive!!

richie bitchie : 🙏🙏

beaver boy : u do know that’s a praying emoji n not highfiving

richie bitchie : .

richie bitchie : my life’s been a lie

richie bitchie : anyway,, michael who the fuck is that number u added

mikenike : oh it’s

_mikenike changed 02659493023’s nickname to stanny boy._

stanny boy : Oh my God. You guys aren’t even grammatically correct in text. What the fuck.

richie bitchie : welcome to the losers club asshole

beaver boy : Monkey’s Asshole

stanny boy : BEV I LOVE YOU

b-b-billy : what! >;(

stanny boy : She made a reference to the Love, Simon book, dear.

b-b-billy : aight,, birdy

jojo siwa hair : ,,did we see something we shouldn’t have

mikenike : ,,I think so and,, good morning gret!

jojo siwa hair : morning mikey! I forgive u for waking me up at 4 am mikey! I’m not climbing up your window with a knife mikey! :)

mikenike : uh.

edsykins : what the fuck

richie bitchie : morning my love!

edsykins : you don’t get to say that to me

richie bitchie : oh right ;0 eddie will u marry me?

edsykins : no

richie bitchie : ;(

edsykins : stop doing the sad winky face lmao

richie bitchie : mission; make eddie laugh first thing in the morning ACCOMPLISHED!

edsykins : haha, whatever you dork

stanny boy : Okay, that’s cute, but one, why the group chat name, and two, why did you wake us up at 4AM?

mikenike : I’m excited 4 d party ok

mikenike : I wanted to chat

mikenike : also this was the groupchat where we planned 4 ur bday

mikenike : iwas too lazy to make a new gc so I just added u here

mikenike : if u backread u can see some sweet things bill said about u ;)

b-b-billy : I WILL block you

mikenike : ;(

jojo siwa hair : don’t’nt

edsykins : what

jojo siwa hair : what

_richie bitchie changed the group name to Lozers 4 Lief._

stanny boy : What

beaver boy : what

beaver boy : anyway

beaver boy : petition to text each other for the whole day until 10PM! we need 7 more signs!!

richie bitchie : bitch get me on that list

b-b-billy : ahem,, get me in too mrs hanscom

jojo siwa hair : wtf, that’s like,, my fucking line you goddamn copycat but like,, sign me up mrs hanscom!!

ben handsome : aaaaaaaaa I can’t believe u guys added my surname to your inside jokes!! shame!!

beaver boy : IT WAS THE JOJO WANNABE’S FAULT

ben handsome : but I’m in!!

mikenike : y’all know the answer to mine lmaoo

edsykins : i,, I might,, i

edsykins : actually fuck yes get me on it

beaver boy : hell yeaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!

beaver boy : hbu stan?

beaver boy : stan?

stanny boy : I don’t know.

beaver boy : ;(

stanny boy : It’s just—my studies, you know?

richie bitchie : staaaaaaaaaaaaan

stanny boy : Richie.

mikenike : STAAAAAAAAN

stanny boy : RICHIE.

stanny boy : Oh wait

mikenike : lmao yes my name is richie

stanny boy : Ugh. What?

richie bitchie : dude,, its like,, JUST FOR A DAY,, y’know,, what could a DAY do to ur studies?/

beaver boy : yeah!! like,, and if ur really THAT worried,, there’s always next semester ! for the YEAR

mikenike : ye! and btw,, rich never listens to the lectures in class and he always gets an A

b-b-billy : lmao you guys are like the kids in those ‘the one bad influence your mom doesn’t want you to hang around’ PSA’s

stanny boy : Oh my God. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe Richie gets an A in every class. There’s just no fucking way.

b-b-billy : sorry to say this,, birdy,, but,, he does

jojo siwa hair : except math

b-b-billy : yeah except math

beaver boy : he gets a B in math every year

stanny boy : Okay then. But if I fail any classes, Richie’ll be lecturing me for the whole semester next semester.

richie bitchie : ,, o,,k,,

-

And so the whole school day, the Losers texted each other in every single class, halting during lunch, and continuing again.

-

_12:21 PM_

richie bitchie : hi,, 😃👋

beaver boy : hi guys! how’s your sixth period going! 😘😚😊😊

stanny boy : What do you want?

richie bitchie : bold of you to assume we want something from y’all

stanny boy : Just tell us, Richie.

richie bitchie : who had chem earlier??

stanny boy : I knew it. I did.

b-b-billy : 🙋‍

mikenike : hullo🙋‍

ben handsome : I did!!

richie bitchie : ok,, um

beaver boy : who thinks they did pretty well on the chem test

b-b-billy : lil birdy did pretty well!! ❤

stanny boy : Oh, come on, Bill. They didn’t even give us the results yet.

mikenike : ‘lil birdy’

stanny boy : Shut up.

ben handsome : I dunno abt mine,, uwu

beaver boy : babe

beaver boy : did u just ‘uwu’

richie bitchie : not the point bev!!

mikenike : I think I’ll get an F

richie bitchie : F

mikenike : lmao NO

beaver boy : aight SO

stanny boy : Yes, you can copy our answers.

beaver boy : YAY ILY!!1

richie bitchie : ur the real man stan!!

-

Richie and Eddie were, once again, racing each other out of the school, ending with Eddie as the winner, because Richie actually bothered to shout “ _Race you there!_ ” For Eddie to get a headstart from the taller boy.

Richie, who appeared soon after Eddie did, steadied himself by placing both of his hands on Bill and Bev’s shoulders and started inhaling and exhaling rapidly, which caught other student’s attention. Bill rolled his eyes and Beverly just huffed.

“Oh my God, what Ben said _was_ true. The smaller, the faster,” he huffed out in between breaths, and Eddie smacked him upside the head. Bev snorted.

“Okay, by the time you two are done flirting, you’re gonna head over to Bill’s before the party, right?” Beverly asked, raising an eyebrow as she fiddled with the strap of her backpack.

Eddie perked up at her statement and turned red. “ _Flirting!_ Who said we were—“ But soon after, Richie cut him off, “Yes sir!”

Beverly rolled her eyes and started walking forward, gesturing for the others to follow. “Yeah. Okay.”

Richie turned to Eddie and grinned, “want me to pick you up later?”

Eddie shrugged and smiled. “Sure. I mean, not like I know where Bill’s is.”

Richie’s grin grew wider, “okay.”

-

As soon as the four teens parted ways, Richie started humming a tune familiar to Eddie’s ears. Halfway down Eddie’s road, Richie started full-on singing.

“ _Put your lips next to mine, dear, oh,”_ he sang, as if the other boy wasn’t there. And if he saw a glimpse of Eddie’s surprised face, he said nothing. “ _Won’t you kiss me once? Baby,”_ and Eddie was still trying to remember where he heard the song. He never remembered where, but he started singing along on the next line, “ _Just a kiss goodnight.”_

Now it was Richie’s turn to look at him surprised. “You—know that song?”

Eddie smiled and shrugged. “Of fucking course. I just sang along with you, dumbass.”

Richie grinned nervously. “Oh—oh yeah. Ignore my stupidity, if you will, Dear Princess.”

Eddie whacked him upside the head, grinning. “I _said,_ never call me that.”

“ _Ow!_ Fine, _fine!_ Sassy.” He laughed. “Hey, we’re here, Princess Sassy.” He stepped onto the porch, ignoring the steps and pulling Eddie up with him by his hand.

Richie held Eddie’s hand for a minute longer, and he finally let go, smiling at the shorter boy. Eddie smiled back and opened the front door, stepping in and waving at Richie before closing it shut. Richie shouted, “Have a good evening, Eds!”

“Don’t call me that!” a muffled sort of sound came from the other side of the door. Richie laughed before stepping away and sighing, adjusting his backpack strap on his shoulder before running back home.

When Eddie made sure he was gone, he sighed and started walking towards the stairs. He passed by the living room and there was his mother, sitting in her recliner, staring right at the doorway, as if she was waiting for him to pass by.

Eddie opened his mouth to greet her, but his mother spoke first. Her voice was sort of worried and grave.

“Eddie, dear, we need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY I HAVENT UPLOADED FOR A MONTH BUT I WAS TRYING TO IMPROVE MY WRITING SKILLS SO THIS CHAPTER WOULD BE LESS SHIT THAN THE OTHERS I SWEAR
> 
> also I was busy with other things
> 
> SDJDJDJDJDJ ONLINE SCHOOL’S GONNA KILL ME BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS DOES
> 
> don’t y’all miss the times when corona was just beer?
> 
> anyway
> 
> No one thinkssssss a pretty girl has substanceeeeeeeeeee
> 
> That’s the curse of popularity! (PoPuLariTy)
> 
> I am more than just a source of HandjoooOOBS 
> 
> No one seeeessssss the Me Inside of Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
> 
> ok I’m done now

**Author's Note:**

> ok so this notes i'm incapable of writing anything below 5000words. the mininum word rule for me (each chapter) is 5000 so. if it's any lower than that i'm gonna have to slap my own ass. wish me mercy


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